The UK government has too much unchecked power, inherited from our feudal past. We need to catch up with the rest of the world by adopting a written constitution designed to limit what governments can do in our name. Too often, governments are free to casually compromise our fundamental rights and freedoms. We need stronger safeguards and to entrench the right to redress.

A UK Written Constitution and Bill of Rights

A written constitution is a formal document defining the rules that govern the political system and sets out what the Government may and may not do. A written constitution should contain a bill of rights, giving every citizen a legal remedy if their rights are infringed by the State. The Human Rights Act 1998 was a crucial first step towards this and must remain the minimum standard of rights protection across the UK. Every person in the UK, citizen or not, deserves the full protection that should result from respect for their universal human rights.

A UK written constitution must:

• Guarantee political equality and help society aspire towards social equality.
• Protect democratic representation in and authority over government and public affairs.
• Ensure that individuals can claim and protect their rights.
• Regulate the decentralisation of power and the sharing of sovereignty.
• Ensure that human rights protection applies to every person in the UK, with additional rights possible through legislation by devolved administrations.

To develop a constitution which enjoys public support requires a wide-scale process of public discussion, debate and participation.

Protect Civil Liberties

Protection of civil liberties and human rights should be at the core of a fair and democratic society. A series of laws have profoundly
undermined our protection against unfair trial and punishment without law. As a priority the government must:

• Repeal 28 days detention without charge.
• Scrap control orders allowing effective house arrest.
• End state complicity in torture.
• Remove unfair limitations on freedom of expression – in particular, remove unreasonable restrictions on the right to protest and review current libel laws.

Protect the Right to Privacy

Individual privacy is under serious threat from the state and corporations. This makes all of us more vulnerable to incompetence, vindictiveness and corruption. The government must:

• Abolish the National Identity Register, the identity card scheme and ContactPoint (the national children’s database).
• The powers granted to government departments and agencies under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 must be limited in scope and brought under greater judicial oversight.
• Decrease, and better regulate use of, CCTV.
• Remove all records of innocent people from the DNA database.

Record of Action

Charter 88 played a leading role in making the case for the Human Rights Act, which for the first time incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law.

See also

• Citizens’ Convention Bill
• Convention on Modern Liberty