Labour manifesto gives scant hope for freedom lovers

London: "We are proud of our record on civil liberties," says the Labour manifesto without the slightest hint of irony, "and have taken the DNA profiles of children off the database and tightened the rules around the use of surveillance but we are still determined to keep our streets safe."

That is the only reference to liberties in the document, which otherwise continues the drumbeat about anti-social behaviour, much of which was enabled by the relaxation in the licensing laws.

The manifesto offers scant hope to those who may have believed Gordon Brown's reassurances about his respect for liberty and the constitution, and it makes clear that the party is incapable or unwilling to acknowledge the extent to which it has changed the relationship between the individual and the state for the worse.

But those looking for sweeping redress from the Conservative manifesto will be disappointed by the milk and water commitment to civil liberties. The shadow justice minister Dominic Grieve, good man that he is, has clearly lost the battle to commit his party to an ambitious portmanteau bill that would repeal Labour's attack on liberty.

However, it is moderately good news that the party commits itself to rolling back the database state ID cards, the ContactPoint children's database and the vetting and barring scheme will be scrapped or reduced curtailing council surveillance powers of local councils, giving more power to the information commissioner, introducing privacy impact assessments on new legislation. The party does not go far enough on changing the law in respect to the DNA database.