The Justice Minister, Chris Grayling, is guilty of one of New Labour’s most egregious sins, making unnecessary laws for soundbytes. The Malicious Communications Act 1988 is a monstrous pre-internet law that thoroughly criminalises vast tracts of speech, including jokes, smut, and the glorious English tradition of being thoroughly rude about people who deserve it; so long as these are done electronically.
Considering that these are all the best parts of the pub banter bearpit of Twitter or the more fun internet forums it should be clear to a noted intellectual such as Grayling that the law was ill thought through and should be clipped back to protect these most fundamental freedoms.
Instead he has decided to quadruple the maximum penalties to two years in prison. He cites the latest media moral panic about internet “trolls.” Note the fact that the media has bastardised the term, which once meant something akin to a wind up artist, but to a journalist now means everything from stalkers to school bullies to people who joke about blowing up airports, but often merely those who disagree with their opinion.
We’ve been here before; inflated media scare stories driving a heavy handed and poorly thought out response from ministers who care about soundbyte, but not a jot for the consequences. Runaway counter terrorism laws used to justify any police excess or act of constitutional vandalism; ASBOs; CRB checks that suck the life out of the voluntary sector; and the official worship of total surveillance.
In opposition the Conservatives did a broadly positive job of opposing and limiting Labour’s worst excesses, but in Government increasingly ape them. The Conservatives promised a Great Repeal Bill that would clear the vast build-up of legal detritus and make British justice compatible with ancient liberties. What happened to it?
