Conservatives do not support Freedom Bill

11.44.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 14th Jul 2010

Liberal Democrat councillors Jon Hubbard and Peter Colmer asked Wiltshire Council to write to the government to support the restoration of civil liberties and the rolling back of the Labour Government's 'database state'.

A motion to the council meeting on July 13th supported the government's plans to scrap the ID cards scheme, introduce an elected House of Lords, end corruption by regulating party funding, and introduce a fairer voting system subject to a referendum.

Cllrs Hubbard and Colmer were also supporting plans by the government to end fingerprinting of children in schools without parental consent, and controlling use of CCTV cameras and the DNA database.

These were included in the 'Freedom Bill', one of the measures in the recent Queen's Speech.

However Wiltshire Council Conservatives used their majority to get the motion thrown out.

Jon Hubbard said, "It is through the Freedom Bill that we see some of the real impacts that Liberal Democrats are having on this Government. For the last 13 years civil liberties have been eroded by the Labour Government and the record of the Tories before them was nothing to be proud of. This bill, being championed by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, will roll back some of the worst abuses we saw, and introduce real opportunities for people to have an equal say in how our country and Wiltshire are governed."