David Davis refuses to debate civil liberties

David Davis, you will recall, resigned his Commons seat and resigned as shadow home secretary because he said he wanted to draw public attention to the threat that government poses to our liberties. According to one of his rival candidates. the by-election campaign is not working out like that.

Shan Oakes, the Green Party candidate in Howden, has written this on her blog today:

Civil liberties suddenly became an immediate issue in the constituency today! We were excluded from a meeting that David Cameron and David Davis had set up with members of the East Riding of Yorkshire Youth Assembly and a number of Conservative supporters.

I had previously been emailed by the Youth Assembly organiser to ask if I would attend an Assembly meeting to discuss the issues with David Davis. I had replied saying I would be delighted. I have attended several Assembly meetings - which are usually held in Beverley where I live. I had also requested David Davis to include us in meetings to debate the issues to which he had agreed.

We turned up at the school and were kept out. First we were refused entrance to the site, then, after great debate with the Head, we were allowed into a side room with the promise that we could meet the young people after the Tory meeting. Chris Abbott, the head teacher, was very helpful, but had little control over arrangements for the 'private hire' of a room in the school premises. We were horrified at the high degree of police presence and the fact that our promised discussion with the young people had been hijacked and turned into a one party PR event for the Tories with no opportunity for legitimate debate.

Davis's behaviour does not make me feel any warmer about Nick Clegg's decision not to fight the by-election.