Nick Clegg's speech this morning was hugely significant. The new government is promising to overthrow much of that which is unfair about our political system as well as making giant strides towards becoming a truly liberal society.
Gone will be ID cards and much of the database state.
In will come controls on the use of CCTV.
Gone will be restrictions on the right to peaceful protest.
In will come a restriction on the use of libel laws to limit free speech.
And there will be a referendum on changing the voting system, a largely elected (by PR) House of Lords and the right to recall corrupt MPs.
And the Government will repeal laws which add nothing to the benefit of society - including asking the public which laws they would like to see the back of.
Labour, of course, is not happy. Alan Johnson - perhaps the least authoritarian Labour Home Secretary of the past 13 years (but that's not saying much) - has said that if we are asking the public which laws they would like to see go, we should be asking which they want to keep. But given that his government introduced around 4 new laws for every day that Parliament sat, he's hardly in a position to comment.
The business of Government should be to regulate where necessary. I think that both the modern conservatives and the Lib Dems get this. It's such a welcome relief to a Labour Government which believed that the state knew best. Labour's opposition to these moves just shows what a sham their call for 'a progressive coalition' really was.
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