The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights

(Paperback)

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An urgent and necessary polemic on the governments assault on our fundamental freedoms and the proliferation of Human Rights.
Since 1997 the government has launched an unprecedented assault on our most basic rights.

Liberty protected

Under the false pretext of protecting the public, New Labour has pawned off our fundamental freedoms, turning Britain into a surveillance state which now boasts the largest number of CCTV cameras in the world. Extensions to pre-charge detention mean that suspects can be locked up for longer in Britain than Zimbabwe.

In the name of security

Yet in the past eleven years, the terrorist threat has risen, police-recorded violent crime has increased by 80 per cent and Britain today has the worst anti-social behaviour record in Europe. This is now a country set for the largest and most expensive ID database in the world looked after by people incapable of keeping records safe.

Democracy defended

At the same time, a myriad of novel human rights have been conjured up in court rooms, far from the control of elected law-makers, fuelling a growing compensation culture and undermining social responsibility. The state now persecutes shop keepers who sell in pounds and ounces, but the Human Rights Act lets dangerous criminals negotiate their release from prison to go on to kill.

In a country where common sense has been turned on its head, The Assault on Liberty is an exceptional and necessary polemic that asks one of the most urgent questions of our time:

What Went Wrong With Rights

Reviews

A clear-headed and important contribution to our contemporary predicament from one of the most brilliant young political minds of our time. Dominic Raab has disentangled what the idea of rights means, and what it does not mean. This book will reframe the analysis and discussion in this vital area. Peter Oborne

Author Bio

Dominic Raab was formerly Chief of Staff to David Davis, before he resigned as Shadow Home Secretary and MP to contest his seat on principle over the 42 day detention bill. He studied law at Oxford and international law at Cambridge, where he was awarded the Clive-Parry Prize for International Law. In 1998, he studied the Arab-Israeli peace process on the West Bank and worked for one of the negotiators of the Oslo peace process. He was seconded to Liberty, as the Human Rights Act entered into force, and advised on human rights test cases in the UK and at the European Court of Human Rights. He has also advised on EU law, including on secondment to Brussels. He currently runs the Office of the Shadow Home Secretary and advises on all areas of Home Affairs policy, including crime, policing, immigration, counter-terrorism and human rights.