Fair and free: Labour, liberty and human rights

Labour has struggled to form a coherent approach to liberty and human rights. Many on the left reject the authoritarian aspects they perceive to have characterised New Labour’s ‘tough on crime’ agenda including attempts to introduce identity cards. Others argue that the left has failed to create a discourse around liberty and human rights that meets citizens’ very real concerns. How do we reach out beyond the view that civil liberties are purely a concern for the liberal elite? Can we respond to the new challenges to our rights posed by the digital age and the explosion of social media? How do we reframe the liberty debate to capture the rights that many citizens hold most dear? Is it possible to make the UK a beacon for human rights in the post-Brexit world? This collection examines the left’s tradition of upholding key rights and freedoms and explores a number of ways in which a fresh vision of liberty could transform lives, institutions and relationships with the rest of the world.

With an introduction by Shami Chakrabarti and contributions by Jason Brock, Andrew Fagan, Frank Field MP, Andrew Forsey, Louise Haigh MP, Laura Janes, Virginia Mantouvalou, Lisa Nandy MP, Andrew Noakes and Robert Sharp.

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