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Its official: The Treasury is a department for security

By John Hirst

Its official: The Treasury is a department for security

According to the H.M. Treasury website:

"The Treasury is the United Kingdom's economics and finance ministry. It is responsible for formulating and implementing the Government's financial and economic policy. Its aim is to raise the rate of sustainable growth, and achieve rising prosperity and a better quality of life with economic and employment opportunities for all".

Gordon Brown, before becoming the Prime Minister, was the Chancellor. According to The Times:

"The power to designate people as terror suspects and freeze their finances was introduced without parliamentary debate by Mr Brown when he was Chancellor. He has declared that the Treasury has become a ?department for security?".

Isn't calling a department for security The Treasury rather like Hitler calling the gas chambers The Showers?

Like the courts, I would question whether the then Chancellor had the public power to act as he did. It used to be that a suspect was an innocent person and remained such until charged with a crime and found guilty by a court at which time sanctions would be imposed. There is something quite frightening about a government department which designates certain people as terror suspects, and refuses to inform them of the details of the allegations against them so that they can challenge the accusations, and yet freeze their finances and they have to justify what they have spent £10 on. Given that MPs do not have to provide receipts for the £25 they can claim each day on expenses, it is a bit rich demanding innocent people justify the expenditure of £10.

When we get more terrorised by the government than we do by the so-called terrorist suspects, its time to let that government know it will not be tolerated.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).