UPDATES
E-mail to hear about site changes, placing 'update' in body of message

Parliament seals its own fate

By backing the government's so-called anti-terror Bill, which abolishes at a stroke democratic rights that go back many centuries, New Labour MPs achieved two things: they not only endorsed the framework of a police state but also signalled parliament's own demise as a meaningful body.

MPs were given only six hours to debate a Bill - and its more than 100 amendments - which, according to a briefing by human rights organisation Liberty, in particular introduces:

• unending restrictions on liberty, up to and including detention, based on suspicion rather than proof
• reliance on secret intelligence, including that gathered by torture
• the inability of the accused to test the case against him/her in any meaningful way.

Yet the majority of New Labour MPs endorsed the Bill, which allows ministers to curtail the movements of suspected individuals through "control orders", although a sizeable number to their credit either abstained or voted against. Last week, the veteran MP Brian Sedgemore, who is leaving parliament, blasted his fellow parliamentarians for their craven behaviour when the Bill first came to the Commons.

He warned: "Liberty, without which democracy has no meaning, and the rule of law, without which state power cannot be contained, look to parliament for their protection, but this parliament, sad to say, is failing the nation badly. It is not just the government but back-bench members who are to blame. It seems that in situations such as this, politics become incompatible with conscience, principle, decency and self-respect. Regrettably, in such situations, the desire for power and position predominates."

He said that "the unthinkable, the unimaginable, is happening here" and that the government was preaching "the politics of fear and ask us to support political incarceration on demand and punishment without trial". Sedgemore said many MPs had gone to sleep when it came to civil liberties: "They voted: first, to abolish trial by jury in less serious cases; secondly, to abolish trial by jury in more serious cases; thirdly, to approve an unlawful war; fourthly, to create a gulag at Belmarsh; and fifthly, to lock up innocent people in their homes. It is truly terrifying to imagine what those Members of Parliament will vote for next. I can describe all that only as new Labour's descent into hell, which is not a place where I want to be."

Sedgemore pointed out that New Labour was overthrowing historic rights, including those established by the 1701 Act of Settlement which gave judges powers independent of the executive. It goes back further, however. In 1215, the barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta or face a civil war. Arbitrary rule and punitive taxes imposed to finance the Crusades led the barons to draw up a charter of rights. Article 39 stated: "No freeman shall be seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgement of his peers, or by the laws of the land."

By throwing out almost 800 years of the right for an accused to come before an open court and be charged, MPs have sealed their own fate. Parliament will not and cannot protect or guarantee basic democratic liberties. It therefore carries no claims to be a democratic body and is simply a rubber stamp for a ruthless regime that itself is tied to corporate interests.

Defending democracy today cannot be achieved without going beyond the existing authoritarian, capitalist state. As our book, A World to Win demonstrates, we need to replace, not plead with, a state that has declared war on its own citizens. That is the only conclusion we can draw from the infamous events of 28 February 2005, when the House of Commons showed it was not fit for purpose.

Movement for a Socialist Future
1 March 2005