Tories unveil plans to end the "surveillance state"

Tories want to roll back the tide of surveillance

The Tories have unveiled radical plans to roll back the "Big Brother" state by slashing government database projects, including ID cards and police DNA records, introducing individual privacy rights, boosting the power and status of the Information Commissioner and curbing local authority abuse.

The detailed proposals are contained in a document, Reversing the Rise of the Surveillance State, unveiled by Conservative shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve at Microsoft's London office.

Grieve said he was not opposed to harnessing IT to strengthen public protection and denied seeking "a luddite return to a pre-technological age" but he said the government's approach was "intrusive, ineffective and enormously expensive" and insisted the cost of ID cards "would have yielded a far greater security dividend if it had been focused on practical measures, such as visible policing, a border police force, and building enough prison places".

He wanted fewer, better run, larger databases with fewer personal details being held by the state, greater checks and stronger duties on the government in order to keep private information safe.

"We are not looking to throw the baby out with the bathwater. But we do want to re-calibrate the relationship between the citizen and the state," said Grieve.

Under the Tory proposals:

The National Identity Register and ContactPoint databases would be scrapped;

Personal privacy would be protected in a new Bill of Rights;

The Information Commissioner would be appointed by and report to Parliament instead of government and have more power and independence;

The DNA database would be broadly restricted to those convicted of crimes with an exception for those accused of serious sexual or violent offences;

Local authorities would have to secure the personal written consent of a council leader and a magistrate's warrant to use RIPA powers, including communications data, and only to investigate offences subject to imprisonment;

Primary legislation would be required to approve data sharing;

Government departments would be required to appoint a minister and a senior civil servant to take personal responsibility for ensuring data security.

The plans were immediately rejected by home secretary Alan Johnson, who insisted the DNA database had helped catch murderers and rapists.

"I believe in a fair balance between individual liberty and tackling crime, but letting criminals literally get away with murder or rape is not a risk I am willing to take,” he said.

But the proposals were welcomed by civil rights campaigners. Liberty said the Tories were right to recognise how the right to privacy has been reduced, and vowed to keep the Conservatives to their word if they win office.