The name of my constituency is Haltemprice and Howden. The word Haltemprice is derived from the motto of a medieval priory, and in Old French it means 'Noble Endeavour'.

I had always viewed membership of this House as a noble endeavour, not least because we and our forebears have for centuries fiercely defended the fundamental freedoms of our citizens.

Or we did, up until yesterday.

This Sunday is the anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, the document that guarantees the most fundamental of British freedoms, habeas corpus.

The right not to be imprisoned for prolonged periods by the state without being told the charge against you.

But yesterday this House decided to allow the state to lock up potentially innocent people for 6 weeks without charge.

This Counter Terrorism Bill will in all likelihood be rejected by the House of Lords. What is their function, after all, if not to defend the Magna Carta?

But because the impetus behind it is political, the government will be tempted to use the Parliament Act to enforce its will and insist on its right to set aside a cornerstone of all our liberties.

It has no democratic mandate to do this, since 42 days was not a manifesto commitment. And its legal standing is dubious, to say the least. But purely for political reasons, this Government will do it.

And because the generic security arguments relied upon are ones that will never go away, this Government will be tempted again in the future to try for 56 days, 70 days, 90 days.

But in truth 42 days is just one albeit perhaps the most salient example of the insidious, surreptitious and relentless erosion of fundamental British freedoms under this Government.

We will have the most intrusive identity card system in the world. A CCTV camera for every 14 citizens.

And a DNA database bigger than that of any dictatorship with thousands of innocent children and a million innocent citizens on it.

We’ve witnessed a sustained assault on jury trials that bulwark against bad law and its arbitrary abuse by the state. Shortcuts with our justice system that have left it both less firm and less fair.

And the creation of a database state, opening up our private lives to the prying eyes of official snooper and exposing our personal data to careless civil servants and criminal hackers.

The state has security powers that clamp down on peaceful protest, and so-called hate laws that stifle legitimate debate whilst those inciting violence get off scot-free.

This cannot go on. It must be stopped. And for that reason, today I feel that it is incumbent upon me to take a stand.

I will be resigning my membership of this House, and I intend to force a by-election in Haltemprice and Howden.

I will not fight it on the government’s general record. There is little point in repeating Crewe and Nantwich.

I will not fight it on my personal record. I am just a piece in this chess game. I will fight this by-election against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this Government.

This may be the last speech I make to the House. Of course, that would be a cause of deep regret to me.

But at least my electorate, and the nation as a whole, would have had the opportunity to debate and consider one of the most fundamental issues of the day the ever intrusive power of the state into their daily lives, the loss of privacy, the loss of freedom and the steady attrition undermining the rule of law.

And if they do send me back here it will be with a single, simple message.

That the monstrosity of a law that we passed yesterday should not stand.

That the British people have grown tired of the inflated, arbitrary and arrogant power accumulated by this Government. And that the slow but ceaseless encroachment of the state into their daily lives must come to an end.

Source:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1026066/David-Daviss-resignation-statement-full.html

Last updated at 11:35 PM on 12th June 2008

Quentin Letts:

.......Boy, oh boy. To chuck in all that status, all that political position, simply to 'make a stand'? This is the sort of thing we journos sometimes urge on politicians but seldom actually expect them to do.

He may have blown apart Tory unity but let's raise caps, hats, helmets, whatever we possess, to this bold buccaneer. At last, someone has swung a dramatic punch at this dark onrush of spooky officialdom..........

Whole article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1026149/Lets-raise-caps-hats-helmets-bold-buccaneer-.html

DAVIS: PROVE YOU’RE NOT A COWARD BROWN

Saturday June 14,2008

By Alison Little, Deputy Political Editor

DAVID Davis yesterday branded the Prime Minister a “coward” for hinting Labour would not contest a by-election that was forced by his resignation.

Mr Davis said: “If they choose not to take part in this democratic process, they are going to show they are ashamed of their own policies.

“Frankly it’s contemptuous of the British electorate if they do that. If it comes to it and they don’t run, I will think that’s just another piece of cowardice by Gordon Brown.”.................

More here:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/48284/Davis-Prove-you-re-not-a-coward-Brown

Poll reveals huge public support for David Davis's decision to force by-election over Government terror laws

By Simon Walters
Last updated at 10:05 PM on 14th June 2008

David Davis has massive public support for his shock move to force a by-election over the Government’s decision to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge.

And he is set to win a historic and decisive victory in his Haltemprice and Howden seat, near Hull – as the first opinion poll carried out in the constituency proves.

The ICM survey for The Mail on Sunday shows overwhelming backing for former Shadow Home Secretary Mr Davis.........

More here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1026487/Poll-reveals-huge-public-support-David-Daviss-decision-force-election-Government-terror-laws.html

Davis's fight is not just for liberty. It is for Britain's soul

In defending 800 years of hard-won political rights, this rebel is also standing up for a crucial part of the national spirit

Jan Morris The Guardian, Wednesday June 25, 2008

Whether David Davis makes of himself a public hero or a popular buffoon by his plunge into notoriety, he stands for me as an allegorical monitor of our times. His behaviour has been quixotic, but like the great mad progenitor of the condition, Don Quixote of La Mancha, he is fighting a cause in a truly fateful battle - a battle for liberty of the human spirit.

It is not just a matter of those 42 days, of habeas corpus or even of human rights in the political sense of the phrase: it is an elemental struggle that is dividing the British again into two nations, as Benjamin Disraeli saw them long ago. They are in vulnerable condition anyway, their natural resistance weakened - all in a mess, demoralised, lacking confidence and conviction, enervated by failure and alien principles, swept this way and that by the forces of a rotten materialist culture.................

Article and many comments here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/25/daviddavis.civilliberties

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2284314/Haltemprice-and-Howden-by-election-results.html

Last Updated: 7:23AM BST 11/07/2008

David Davis has claimed victory in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election - but on a lower turnout and by fewer votes than at the last general election.

2008:

Turnout: 23,911 (34.03%, -36.12%)

Conservative majority: 15,355 (64.22%)

David Davis (Conservative): 17,113 (71.57%, +24.11%)

Shan Oakes (Green): 1,758 (7.35%)

Joanne Robinson (Eng Dem): 1,714 (7.17%)

Tess Culnane (NF): 544 (2.28%)

Gemma Garrett (Miss GB Party): 521 (2.18%)

Jill Saward (Independent): 492 (2.06%)

Mad Cow-Girl (Loony) 412 (1.72%)

Walter Sweeney (Independent) 238 (1.00%)

John Nicholson (Independent) 162 (0.68%)

David Craig (Independent) 135 (0.56%)

David Pinder (New Party) 135 (0.56%)

David Icke (ND) 110 (0.46%)

Hamish Howitt (Freedom) 91 (0.38%)

Christopher Talbot (SEP) 84 (0.35%)

Grace Astley (Independent) 77 (0.32%)

George Hargreaves (Ch P) 76 (0.32%)

David Bishop (Elvis) 44 (0.18%)

John Upex (Independent) 38 (0.16%)

Greg Wood (Independent) 32 (0.13%)

Eamonn Fitzpatrick (Independent) 31 (0.13%)

Ronnie Carroll (History) 29 (0.12%)

Thomas Darwood (Independent) 25 (0.10%)

Christopher Foren (Independent) 23 (0.10%)

Herbert Crossman (Independent) 11 (0.05%)

Tony Farnon (Independent) 8 (0.03%)

Norman Scarth (Independent) 8 (0.03%)



2005:
Turnout: 48,029 (70.15%)
Conservative majority: 5,116 (10.65%)


Davis (Conservative) 22,792 (47.45%)

Neal (Liberal Democrat) 17,676 (36.80%)

Hart (Labour) 6,104 (12.71%)

Mainprize (BNP) 798 (1.66%)

Lane (UKIP) 659 (1.37%)