Date published: 2007/05/12
The BBC says:
Home Secretary John Reid has called for human rights laws to be rewritten to protect people against terrorism.
In a speech in Venice to ministers of the six largest EU nations, he said the current situation was unacceptable.
Citizens were not being protected by politicians who followed case law "to the letter", Mr Reid said.
...
In his speech, Mr Reid told the summit, that the international legal system needed modernising and that the distinction between armed conflict and criminal acts was out of date.He said: "We need to work to modernise the law - still protecting human rights and still providing equity and justice - but reflecting the reality of the conflicts and struggles we now face.
"We need leadership to do this. It can't be left solely to the lawyers.
"Politicians must expose these issues and set a lead, so that we can protect the rights of all our citizens, including all those threatened by terrorism."
What planet is this guy living on? It's just as well he is going to leave office when Blair does. Does anyone, anywhere, believe that laws are "left solely to the lawyers"? Governments make laws, not lawyers. And you would bloody hope that politicians "followed case law to the letter". Does Reid think that he should be able to pick and choose which laws he wants to observe? One of the problems with the Blair government is that it consistently broke the law. It wanted to lock people up without charge and without anybody except the government having a say in the matter. Unfortunately, British Home Secretary after British Home Secretary tries to prove over and over that they are the worst British Home Secretary of all time.
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