Westminster Diary - 17th November 2005

Thursday, 17th November 2005

The votes last week on the Government’s proposed Terrorism Bill were big Parliamentary occasions and for good reasons. The votes in the House of Commons on, in particular, the proposal to detain terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge were particularly controversial and I know that many people reading this article will have strong views on each side of the debate. It is for that reason that I thought it would be right to set out the reasons for the decision I took on this crucial issue.

First of all, I accept that the terrorist threat we now face is different in nature to what we have faced in the past and it needs a different response. Incidentally, a large part of that necessary response has nothing to do with legislation but more to do with a clearer, wider understanding of our national identity behind which every segment of our society can unite, but that debate is for another day.

I supported an extension of the power for the police to detain suspects in these specific cases from 14 to 28 days, together with the judicial review safeguards the Government has now included in the Bill. For me, however, 90 days is simply too long to detain someone in prison without even communicating to them the change they face.

It’s worth remembering that this is the same period of imprisonment which someone convicted and given a 6 month custodial sentence would face. I understand that the police have asked for 90 days to bring charges, but the legislature’s consideration of issues as serious as this cannot end with the request of the police. Just because the police ask for more powers does not mean we automatically give them those powers. We must decide whether the potential damage to our freedoms is worth the advantage the police will gain. My judgement is that the Government have not made their case well enough on this. To get this decision wrong will have serious implications for Community relations and our ability to retrieve intelligence from precisely the communities we need to reach to prevent further terrorist atrocities.

It is for these reasons, and after much thought, that I made the decision to vote against the Government’s proposal.

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Updated on Thursday, 17th November 2005