An Englishman's home is no longer "his castle"

"...even the most rapacious bailiff in one of [Dickens'] novels did not have the power of his modern counterpart. Neckett in Bleak House had to be invited in to serve his warrant for debt on Skimpole. This is because, for centuries, bailiffs were unable forcibly to enter a home under a common law right of citizens established in around 1300 and reaffirmed on many occasions by the courts, as in the Semayne's judgment in 1604 from which the "Englishman's castle" concept derives, and by successive governments throughout history.

In 1760, William Pitt (the Elder) made a famous declaration of this right. "The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it. The rain may enter. The storms may enter. But the king of England may not enter. All his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement."

This right to refuse forced entry held for centuries until the Labour government, with its cavalier disregard for personal privacy, came along. In 2004, it introduced the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill, which contained a power to force entry in connection with unpaid fines imposed for criminal offences.

Further editorializing and some vigorous commentary at the link.