Terror bill in disarray after 42-day detention bid defeated in Lords

Published on Monday 13 October 2008 22:17

PLANS to increase the length of time terror suspects can be held without charge – from 28 to 42 days – are to be dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill after a crushing Lords defeat.

In an emergency Commons statement last night Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said the measure would instead be the subject of a separate piece of legislation, to be brought before parliament if required.

Opposition parties were quick to capitalise on the move.

The Liberal Democrats said it was a "humiliating retreat", while Pete Wishart, the SNP home affairs spokesman described the announcement as a "cataclysmic climbdown."

Meanwhile, the Tories called for Ms Smith to admit she was abandoning the 42-day detention plan.

Flanked by Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and speaking over jeers Ms Smith told the Commons said: "Some may take the security of Britain lightly – I don't." She added that the Counter-Terrorism Temporary Provisions Bill stood ready to be introduced "if and when the need arises".

The emergency late-evening statement came just hours after peers, including former Labour Lord Chancellors Lord Falconer and Lord Irvine, voted by a huge 191 majority against extending pre-charge detention to 42 days.

Ms Smith warned: "We face a terrorist threat that is at the severe end of severe."

She said the Commons had voted in favour of the 42-day detention limit, but the Lords had taken a different view "despite the considered view of all leading counter terrorism professionals that these powers will be necessary and should be there.

"My priority remains the protection of the British people. I do not believe, as some MPs clearly do, that it is enough simply to cross our fingers and hope for the best.

"That is not good enough because when it comes to national security, there are certain risks I'm not prepared to take."

Dominic Grieve, the Tories' shadow home secretary, said the Prime Minister's "spin doctors" had stopped Ms Smith from "saying in straightforward terms that she is abandoning 42 days".

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dems leader said: "The decision to prepare emergency legislation instead is merely a fig leaf which does little to disguise their defeat.

"Generations of Britons have fought and died to preserve these freedoms and the government has learnt the hard way that they cannot be ditched on a whim."

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, warned the campaign against the measures would fight on.

She said: "Liberty has been overwhelmed by the public and parliamentary support for our campaign against this dangerous and counter-productive measure.

"Rest assured that if any government tries this again we will be ready."

The rejection of what is a major plank of the government's counter-terrorism policy is a setback for Mr Brown, but had been expected following sustained criticism of the bill from senior members of the Lords, including former intelligence chief Eliza Manningham-Buller.

Opponents, including many Labour members of the Lords, saw the proposed law changes as violating Britain's civil liberties and out of line with other Western democracies, where detention limits are already far shorter.

The measures squeezed through in June despite more than 30 Labour rebels voting with the Opposition.