Don't Say I Didn't Tell You

In this morning's Times we read that the Prime Minister proposes, as he has previously threatened, to allow police officers to impose Instant ASBOs.

In his eagerness to clamp down on small-time disorder (of which he knows nothing, other than what focus groups tell him)he has actually managed to go further than the police themselves think sensible. That takes some doing, given the propensity of so many senior officers to demand ever-greater powers.

So a person hauled off the street will be given, before he leaves the police station, an Order, the breach of which will carry up to five years in prison. He will be able (at least until the next Downing Street bright idea comes along) to dispute the Order in court some weeks later. In the meantime, he is at risk without his case having been considered by the Impartial and Independent Tribunal that is such a proud centrepiece of the Human Rights Act.