How our liberties have been destroyed

Since Labour was elected 12 years ago, a massive and frightening array of powers have been introduced which curtail Britain's long-fought-for commitment to the freedom of the individual.

There are 56 such freedom-destroying powers, according to the Convention on Modern Liberty.

They range from the shameful decision to ban inconvenient but peaceful protests in the vicinity of Parliament to the storage by the police of DNA samples taken from entirely innocent people.

Town Hall Stasi routinely deploy anti-terrorist powers to snoop on dog foulers and families suspected of cheating school catchment area rules.

Low-ranking officials have access to the chilling ContactPoint database containing the sensitive personal details of every child in England.

A giant new NHS database will allow confidential patient records to be accessed by health workers across the land.

The list is terrifying. But still ministers are not satisfied they have sufficient powers to pry into every aspect of our lives. More

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