Ken Macdonald, the outgoing Director of Public Prosecutions, has launched a wide-ranging attack on the encroachments on our civil liberties. Coming from someone at the coalface of trying to secure prosecutions, Ken Macdonald’s warnings are a particular damning criticism of Labour’s arguments that they are all necessary in order to catch and convict criminals:

He said, the Government should insist that “our rights are priceless” and that: “The best way to face down those threats is to strengthen our institutions rather than to degrade them.”

The intervention will be seen as a significant setback to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith who last week saw her plans to lock up terror suspects for 42 days before being charged thrown out by the House of Lords.

It is also a blow to Miss Smith’s plans for a super-database to record the details of millions of people’s online presence, including emails, SMS messages and Facebook profiles as well as the controversial identity card programme.

Sir Ken chose to issue his tough warning about the perils of the “Big Brother” state in his final speech as DPP, days before he leaves his post at the end of this month.

He warned that MPs should “take very great care to imagine the world we are creating before we build it. We might end up living with something we can’t bear”. (Telegraph)

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, said:

Sir Ken Macdonald has sounded a clarion call for freedom. He is absolutely right to highlight the danger of a Leviathan state that wants to know all and control all about the citizens it should serve and not master. Even very recent history shows that extraordinary state powers are not just used to pursue terrorists. A brief examination of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act shows that it is far more likely to be used to spy on children, pets and bins than it is to catch serious criminals.