You may have backed Labour in 1997 thinking you were voting for human rights and against draconian laws like the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
But if you voted Labour in 2001, any hope of scrapping the PTA WaN distant memory.
It was replaced by the even more repressive Terrorism Act 2000. This broadened the definition of "terrorism" to include almost any militant activity and outlawed previously legal political groups. Still, you might have persuaded yourself that "they'll be better than the Tories" or "it can hardly get worse".
But for anyone thinking of voting Labour in 2005 any such lingering hopes will have died - the coffin lid nailed down and the box long since lowered into the ground.
Prison numbers have soared, police stops of black
have escalated and ASBOs are criminalising young people. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 is leading a frontal assault on fair trials. And migrants have been sysOpposition by the Tories and Lib Dems to the new Prevention of Terrorism Act was purely opportunistic. tematically denied rights, benefits and dignity.
But the jewel the Labour's repressive crown has been the home front of it's 'war on terror'. ACTSA 2001 and PTA 2005 have ripped up the basic rule book for justice - bringing in punishments based on untested secret evidence proved to a minimal standard without a jury.
Drawing lessons from the re-election of Bush, last year, Blair decided his best chance of winning a third term would be through a "security election". Whipping up fears and insecurity, Labour launched a frenzy of initiatives aimed to demonstrate that it leads the authoritarian pack.
But mass opposition to war and resistance from the Muslim community have destroyed three decades of bipartisan consensus in support of anti-terror powers.
First the Law Lords threw out internment without trial as unlawful. Then the new PTA, designed to replace it with "control orders, only got passed after what has been described as the "longest and sometimes rowdiest" sitting of parliament for 99 years.
The cracks in Bush and Blair's "anti-terror" front have been evident for some time - with the failure of the Iraq war and the scandal over the torture of prisoners by occupying forces.
After talking up the threat for several years, a recently leaked secret FBI report reveals an assessment that another 9/11-style attack is unlikely - Al Qa'eda simply hasn't the ability.
And the US government plans to downgrade the showpiece of its "war on terror" -the Guantanamo Bay internment camp - by transterring half the detainees to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Yemen, so that abuse can be continued away from the public gaze.
The opposition of the Tories and Lib Dems to the new PTA was purely opportunistic. Catching the public mood of opposition, they hoped to punish Labour and make it look weak in the run up to the election. But they had no intention of surrendering the "anti-terror" mantle to Labour.
So they ultimately voted through a bill that Human Rights Watch described as "almost identical" to the original bill, the main concession being a "promise" that it will lapse in 12 months.
Proof of the unprincipled character of 90 percent of this parliamentary opposition also lies in the answer to this question: where were they when ACTSA 2001 - containing a range of very similar measures - was rushed through 3½ years ago?
The truth is that Lib Dems, Tories and most Labour rebels were happy to make a show of opposition prior to an election, then kick it into the long grass to be dealt with when the heat died down.
But public opposition remains and pressure can be rebuilt to throw out the Act given it's tenuous status.
At the election this means voting against not just the Tories and New Labour candidates who nodded through the new Act, but also the Lib Dems as a whole - who showed the most enthusiasm for a deal on it.
A new party committed to the removal of these nasty laws is badly needed. It's extraordinary that an expression of public protest on such an important issue should have to rely on these political charlatans.
It is also necessary to meet a new wave of repressive policies being discussed by the EU and G8 states. Statewatch has warned they, "herald a new dangerous era of preemptive state action where the emphasis is shifted from bringing people before the courts to face criminal charges to targeting of those "suspected of involvement or even allegedly "supporting' terrorism".
This will involve new offences of 'preparatory' acts where no crime has been committed, surveillance techniques which catch the innocent in their net and preventing defendants from knowing the evidence against them.
This in turn calls for a new, internationally co-ordinated, campaign. The movement against the war and occupation in Iraq is alive and vibrant, with the demonstration resembling a carnival atmosphere. 100,000 people marched through the streets of London on March 19. Banners from across the country showed that opposition to Blair's war is to be found in every corner of Britain.
Young people in particular were well represented. Some union banners were there but it was apparent that most people had not been brought there by their unions.
The biggest delegations to the demonstration were those where consistent work had been done over the previous months. The challenge is now to ensure local groups maintain activities outside the needs of organising major demosntrations.
One way of doing this, particularly in the colleges, is to maintain weekly or fortnightly organising meetings to plan local activities, and, where possible, to link in to the local Respect campaigns.
Respect's profile at the demonstration was disappointing considering thousands of newspapers produced especially for the demonstration were available.
Distribution of papers and placards was done by a relative handful of members with many more opting to hand out or sell materials from other organisations.
A perfect opportunity to give Respect's image as the anti-war party, in the run-up to an election, was thrown away.
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has been going on for months.
Of course many of the asylum seekers were political activists in their own coun