Tory opposes 'stupid' move to scale back spy cameras

Tory backbencher Philip Davies criticised Government plans to remove people from the database and clamp down on the use of CCTV as he warned it would risk hampering crime-fighting.

The Shipley MP formed an unlikely alliance yesterday with former Labour Minister Caroline Flint to urge Ministers to avoid making a "knee jerk reaction" to please civil liberties campaigners.

Their concerns stem from a pledge in the coalition agreement between the Tories and Liberal Democrats to "further regulate CCTV" and introduce new rules for the DNA database – based on what happens in Scotland – which would limit people's samples being stored if they are not convicted. It follows a European court ruling that DNA samples of two South Yorkshire men had been stored illegally.

"The coalition Government have pledged to regulate CCTV and remove from the DNA database the profiles of individuals who are not successfully prosecuted after three years," Mr Davies told MPs. "I believe that the first duty of any Government is to protect the public; it is for that reason that I believe we need, if anything, more CCTV cameras and more people on the DNA database, rather than fewer."

In a 90-minute debate, Mr Davies told MPs that while the coalition was using the cloak of civil liberties to justify its plans, cutting CCTV and the use of DNA would hamper the chances of catching criminals and threaten the freedom of ordinary people who risk becoming victims of crime.

He said Stephen Griffiths, the man charged with killing three prostitutes in Bradford earlier this year, would not have been arrested without CCTV, while the killers of PC Sharon Beshenivsky were caught with the help of automatic number plate recognition cameras.

Meanwhile murderers such as Ronald Castree, who killed 11-year-old Lesley Molseed in 1975, would still be "free to roam the streets" if unconvicted people were removed from the DNA database, he said.

"The police asking to see one's papers is something one would expect to see in an authoritarian state; that would impinge on my individual freedom," Mr Davies told MPs.

"However, CCTV cameras being installed on a particular street and forensic laboratories holding my DNA do not in any way impinge on my freedoms."

Don Valley MP Ms Flint echoed his concerns and urged the Government "to be cautious in proceeding in this area in a way that could undermine some tools that are effective in fighting crime."