Your editorial on civil liberties (22 April) is right to warn of the Tory threat to our framework for fundamental rights. Following the publication of their manifesto we now know that five more years of the Tories would mean the systematic dismantling of the postwar human rights system that has done so much to protect people’s basic rights here and across Europe. And on this erosion of civil liberties, as on so many other issues, the Liberal Democrats have proved themselves to be willing bedfellows, rather than the voice of “conscience” they claim to provide. The decimation of legal aid, curtailing of judicial review, gagging of charities – all have been signed off by Lib Dem ministers.
Only a Labour government can guarantee a strengthening rather than a weakening of citizens’ rights; protecting the Human Rights Act, reforming rather than walking away from the European court of human rights, repairing the damage done to judicial review, extending freedom of information, and making sure access to legal representation is available to all who need it.
Sadiq Khan
Labour parliamentary candidate for Tooting and shadow justice secretary
