tack as during the ten years of this Labour Government.

In the 13th century, it was the monarchy, and in particular feared tyrant King John, that was the enemy of freedom and liberty. In the 21st century, the power of the state is the menace.

It poses an ever-growing threat to the liberty of British people, in many cases seizing on new technology to menace our freedom.

Today, the situation is so bad that we are in urgent need of a new Magna Carta - one that enshrines the freedom of the ordinary British citizen from state oppression. Here, the Mail's political columnist outlines the ten basic freedoms this new document should contain...

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

The ability to speak our mind is a key freedom that distinguishes British citizens from those in countries which are tyrannies. In modern Britain, this freedom is slowly being eaten away. Often the motive is virtuous - for example part of anti-terror legislation or to prevent racism. Nevertheless, free speech is under threat as it has not been for hundreds of years.

The reality is that political correctness, though well-intentioned, is turning into a totalitarian monster that can censor any debate and distort argument about burning issues such as mass immigration and multi-culturalism.

RIGHT TO PROPERTY

As almost all political philosophers have recognised, the right to private property is a key protection against tyranny. One of the reasons why King John was hated in 13thcentury England was the high taxation he levied on his subjects. This burden on the ordinary citizen has risen to previously unheard of levels in the past 100 years.

While everyone accepts taxation is necessary to pay for defence, public services and other amenities of the state, today it is close to punitive. To give one example, people living in quite modest dwellings are caught with massive inheritance tax bills which force them to sell their family homes.

The real Magna Carta: The only private copy of the document is worth an estimated £15m

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

This basic principle of human freedom was not enshrined in Magna Carta. Instead, it was fought for over centuries by minority religious groups.

Today, however, all religions are under threat from militant secularism. For example, charities for the Christian, Muslim and other faiths face discrimination and withdrawal of state funding which is made lavishly available to secular organisations.

In another encroachment on religious belief, Catholic adoption agencies are forced to act against their consciences by placing children with homosexuals.

4. MAKE THE HOME OF A BRITISH CITIZEN SACROSANCT

Until recent times, the power of the state to enter a citizen's home has been very limited. But new legislation has awarded public bodies numerous powers to enter private homes without consent.

Today, there are no fewer than 266 statutory provisions and ministerial orders that allow entry to private dwellings, often with the option to use force.

5. PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE

All British citizens are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But this ancient right is under threat from a government promise to introduce identity cards, forcing us to carry a document we can present to the authorities on demand. The ID card threatens to become a massive weapon in the hands of an intrusive state.

Another flagrant attack on the presumption of innocence concerns DNA samples taken from suspects. It used to be the case that the police would destroy the fingerprints of those who were either acquitted or never charged. Under new proposals, they will be able to retain DNA profiles in all circumstances.

6. RIGHT TO PRIVACY

The British state, and also large corporations, are constantly seeking to discover more information about our private lives and to monitor our actions.

For example, Britain has now become the CCTV capital of the world, with approximately 20 per cent of all closed-circuit television cameras based in this country.

7. THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

The traditional British citizen has enjoyed the ability to protest against government action. One effect of recent anti-terror legislation has been to curtail this right massively.

Though nobody doubts that it is necessary to give government powers to combat terrorists, often those powers have been used in very heavy-handed ways.

One famous example came in 2005, when the anti-war protester Walter Wolfgang was held under anti-terror laws for heckling Jack Straw at the Labour Party conference.

Another case concerned Maya Evans, victim of a ban on unauthorised protests in Westminster when she was arrested for reading out names of soldiers killed in Iraq near the Cenotaph.

8. HABEAS CORPUS, OR FREEDOM FROM UNLAWFUL DETENTION

This was set out in the original Magna Carta, and survived intact for eight centuries, but is now under ferocious attack.

Habeas Corpus is the single most fundamental freedom of the British subject, one which distinguishes us from tyrannical countries such as Burma, China, Nazi Germany or the former Soviet Union, where citizens can be seized at whim by the police and held without trial.

In rare times of national emergency, such as World War II and the most violent phase of the Northern Ireland troubles, British governments have temporarily suspended this vital protection.

Habeas Corpus translates literally as 'thou shalt have the body [in court]' and enshrines the right to a fair trial.

However, Tony Blair tried to get rid of it altogether by introducing legislation which would enable the state to hold suspected terrorists for 90 days without being required to provide reasons.

This was fought off in the Commons, but Gordon Brown appears to be intent on mounting a fresh assault.

9. TRIAL BY JURY

This principle, like Habeas Corpus, was enshrined in British law by Magna Carta. It survived for eight centuries before coming under venomous attack by modern governments which dislike its inefficiency and expense.

The right to jury trial means that British citizens, unlike those in foreign dictatorships, are entitled to demand to be tried by '12 good men and true' rather than convicted by an arbitrary tribunal.

A government Bill in 2006 tried to take away this right for complex fraud cases, but the proposal was blocked in the House.

Alongside the attack on jury trial, modern British government has sought to move away from formal justice to an improvised system of executive justice, thus sidestepping the due process of law which has been the defining feature of the British system.

This kind of casual justice has been introduced for a variety of offences, for example hooliganism and shoplifting.

The resultant move to fixed penalty notices means that suspects can buy their way out of the formal process of punishment by paying a fine. As a result, shoplifting and some other offences are subject to taxation rather than criminal punishment.

IN A famous passage, the great 20th-century historian AJP Taylor wrote that 'in August 1914, a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the State, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked.

He could travel abroad or leave his country for ever without a passport or any sort of official permission.' Only 90 years have passed since he uttered those words and today the opposite is true.

The growth of the State intrudes everywhere upon our lives and our liberties. We must set boundaries now, or our ancient freedoms - the very things which define us as British - will be lost for ever.