Nick Clegg promises biggest shakeup in UK democracy
Britain’s deputy prime minister Nick Clegg on Wednesday promised wide-ranging political reform and restoration of civil liberties in his first official speech after joining the coalition government.
Mr Clegg, in an address to students at City and Islington College, said that the coalition government would introduce the most important changes to the British democratic system since 1832, when the system was changed to give more people the right to vote.
Mr Clegg, who has special responsibility for political and constitutional reform in the Cabinet, also announced that he will revamp of the criminal justice system to get rid of unnecessary laws and legislation, and protect individual rights and liberties.
Promising “big sweeping change,” Mr Clegg said the coalition government will “repeal all of the intrusive and unnecessary laws that inhibit freedom; reform politics so it is open, transparent, decent; and will radically redistribute power away from the centre, into communities, homes, and hands.” The deputy prime minister promised a review of the anti-terrorism laws to prevent their “misuse,” and announced that the identity card programme will be dropped. He said the privacy of DNA samples would be protected and the use of CCTV cameras would be controlled.
“And as we tear through the statute book, we’ll do something no government ever has: We will ask you which laws you think should go. Because thousands of criminal offences were created under the previous government; yet taking people’s freedom away didn’t make our streets safer. Obsessive lawmaking simply makes criminals out of ordinary people. So, we’ll get rid of the unnecessary laws,” he said.
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