Anti-yob powers trigger police state gibe

The Times
Sep. 30, 2005

TONY BLAIR denied that he was creating a police state atmosphere in Britain after pledging to give officers any extra summary powers they needed to crack down on yobs.

Mr Blair argued that traditional law was failing to protect the elderly from the fear of violence and intimidation. The Prime Minister also gave his strongest warning yet that “traditional civil liberties” would not stand in the way of new anti-terrorism laws.

Civil rights groups said that Mr Blair was eroding several centuries of British legal practice because of his impatience with the justice system. He is also keen to find new ways to tackle antisocial behaviour to include in a White Paper on his pet project of “respect” later in the autumn.

Mr Blair denied that new summary powers already announced for the police to deal with problems such as crack houses could create a “police state”. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Blair said: “When you talk about the ‘midnight knock on the door’, that is one way of looking at it.

“But if you are an elderly person, perhaps scared of living in your own home at night, that is a pretty rough situation to be in and I want to give them protection. I don’t think that the traditional law can give them adequate protection.”

Mr Blair told GMTV that he would give the police any fresh powers they needed to crack down on binge drinking and antisocial behaviour.

During the party’s conference in Brighton, the trade unions used their voting power to ensure that the leadership suffered a record four defeats this week, only to be told by Mr Blair to “get real”.

Mr Blair said: “In the old days...the constituency delegates were kind of the crazy ones, and the trade unions were the force for stability.

“Actually now, the constituency delegates were backing the leadership all the way through. The Labour Party is a changed party today. The trade union movement has got to modernise, it has got to understand that the world out there has changed ... I think what they have got to realise, and I think this is the message from the constituency delegates to them, is, ’C’mon guys, get into the modern world, get real’.

“They have got some work to do, I think.”

The defeats committed the party to more funding for council housing; suspending private involvement in the NHS; returning to index-linked pensions; and reintroducing secondary strike action.