This entry was posted on 22nd November 2010 at 9:04pm under Politics.
Tags: civil liberties, ed balls, labour, Politics
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RSS FeedLabour and Liberties
Ed Balls has recently stated in an interview that Labour had taken wrong decisions on civil liberties. In the interview with Andrew Marr, he described the efforts to pass laws allowing 90 days detention without trial as “a step too far”.
The change of position from Labour inevitably has political consequences. I think it’s fair to say that nobody would argue this is the sole reason Labour lost the election. Yet this seems a surprisingly reflective time for Labour. Some reflection was done during the leadership contest, as could only be expected, but now there seems to be a renewed emphasis on what Labour got wrong and what the party thinks should be corrected.
Labour is trying to shed an authoritarian image, but I suspect there is a lot more to it than civil liberties. Labour was also seen by some as bureaucratic and intervening needlessly – a perception that will be very difficult to change politically. To do so would almost certainly require policies to be proposed, which would in turn be playing their hand far too soon.