There has quite rightly been criticism in Neath of the threat to our digital freedom foreshadowed by the Conservative manifesto. In the interests of fairness, it is necessary to point out that the Blair-Brown governments led the way with ID cards (which the coalition put a stop to) and the Digital Economy Act which was pushed through in Labour's last few days in government. Liberal Democrats vigorously opposed the Bill, as we have consistently opposed all abridgements of personal freedom, and were supported by 23 Labour rebels and just a few Conservatives, David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) to the fore, plus Adam Price of Plaid Cymru.
The Labour rebel roster represents all wings of the party. It is unlikely that all of them have ever been in the same lobby together, before or since:
Abbott, Ms Diane (Lab); Burgon, Colin (Lab);
Challen, Colin (Lab);
Corbyn, Jeremy (Lab);
Davies, Dai;
Dismore, Mr. Andrew (Lab);
Drew, Mr. David (Lab);
Gerrard, Mr. Neil (Lab);
Grogan, Mr. John (Lab);
Hoey, Kate (Lab);
Howarth, rh Mr. George;
Jones, Lynne (Lab);
Joyce, Eric (Lab);
Kilfoyle, Mr. Peter (Lab);
Lazarowicz, Mark (Lab);
Love, Mr. Andrew (Lab);
Marshall-Andrews, Mr. Robert (Lab);
Mitchell, Mr. Austin (Lab);
Palmer, Dr. Nick (Lab);
Reed, Mr. Andy (Lab);
Simpson, Alan (Lab);
Todd, Mr. Mark (Lab);
Truswell, Mr. Paul (Lab);
Watson, Mr. Tom (Lab).
Sadly, the Corbyn-led "opposition" has shown less spine in standing up to the May administration since the EU referendum.
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