Have your Say!

Safer nation or Police State?

I have recently returned from a trip to America connected with the Home Affairs select committee. We were there investigating how the US authorities conduct surveillance and investigations into suspect terrorists in order to report back to government about what lessens we in Britain can learn.

All this ties in with big decisions about to be taken concerning the amount of time suspected terrorists can be detained without charge. In the past two years this has increased from 48 hours, to 7 days and now stands at 28 days. Some senior police officers have argued the case for increasing the detention period, from anything between 50 and 90 days. They suggest this amount of time id required in order to go through mobile phone records, hard drives and international links. However, we don't yet have evidence to suggest this amount of time is necessary.

The US authorities were shocked at hour long we can already hold suspected terrorists, sometimes without them even knowing why they are being held. Naturally, if the suspect turns out to be the mastermind behind a terrorist plot then who cares how long they've been locked up? But if it's your own son or daughter, mistakenly arrested on their way too work and actually completely Innocent, it's not so ideal. And what about the young, innocent South American not arrested by mistake, but shot dead?

We have to do all we can to prevent terrorism and to keep our nation safe, but there's a fine balance between protecting out communities and living in a police state. These are tricky decisions and I'd love to hear your views.

Yours,
Gary

posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Thursday, October 25, 2007

0 comments  | links to this post

To be or not to be..

During my time up in Blackpool at Party Conference last week I was surprised about which announcement got the most applause and media coverage. When our Spokesman declared that no-one would pay death duty on amounts less then one million pounds there was a whoosh of excitement- and the commentary that followed in the press suggested that this policy was probably largely responsible for killing off Gordon Brown's 2007 election plans.

The reason I was slightly surprised about the popularity of this policy (although I certainly support it) is that currently only 6% of people pay inheritance tax anyway- so for 94% of us this policy is irrelevant. But I have become increasingly aware of the fact that a growing number of people are feeling that they now pay more than enough in tax, especially as the massive cash investments in health and education have brought modest rather than dramatic improvements. Couple this with a desire to leave something behind for our loved ones when we pass on, it makes perfect sense that policy has been so widely appreciated for the message it is sending.

A lot of my time at Conference was spent gearing up for a general election- most MP's and would-be MP's have sprung into action over the past few weeks, sorting out leafleting campaigns and gathering canvassing teams around them. For now though, it looks like it's all been a waste of time, there will be no election in 2007. Even when the election does come, it means weeks of disruption for the nation and less time to concentrate on local and national issues. It's frustrating that time has to be wasted in this way, but unfortunately that's one of the drawbacks of democracy- as Churchill so wisely said "Democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all of the others."

What do you think? Let me know.
Yours,
Gary

posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Saturday, October 13, 2007

0 comments  | links to this post