Posted: Apr 19, 2012 10:25 am
chairman bill wrote:rJD wrote:The tories often have been better on general individual civil liberties than Labour ...
The Tories are often better in terms of allowing the better off to enjoy their civil liberties. But the poor, and ethnic minorities? They really couldn't give a shit. As an example, the Tories again & again make access to legal aid difficult for poor people, and access to the legal system is a fundamental civil liberty.
The Tories are more individualistic, and care less about a wider societal well-being. Civial rights & liberties for the masses? Apart from some One-Nation types, they generally don't give a toss.
I generally agree with you, but there is a genuine ideological strand within both the tory and lib dem parties that does value individual rights against the tendencies of creeping statism to which governments of all parties are liable. As now, for instance.