The Home Secretary, John Reid, is considering declaring a state fo emergency after 3 suspected terrorists have disappeared whilst subject to a control order.

Control Orders are like tagging and ASBOs – the subject is told what they can and can’t do and the authorities take action if they breach conditions of the order.  This is fine when it’s a scrote on a tag after being caught smoking canabis or a chav caught nicking a burberry baseball cap from Primark but can suspected terrorists be trusted to stick to the terms of a control order when there is evidence that they have been planning to blow people up in this country?

Reid would have to declare a state of emergency in order to obtain a derogation on article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantees the right to liberty.  The effect of this won’t just give the power to the Home Secretary to detain terrorist suspencts indefinitely but any citizen of any country who is currently in the UK.  It could be used to detain opposition MPs if the Home Secretary considered the threat to the Liebour regime to be a threat to the stability of the country.  It could be used to detail journalists and bloggers, anyone who criticises the British government.  Declaring a state of emergency allows the introduction of food rationing, travel bans and restriction of telecommunications including the internet.

Democracy?