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Terror: Smith to push for 42-day limit
Terror: Smith to push for 42-day limit
The Government wants to increase the period terror suspects can be held without charge to 42 days, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said.Currently, suspects can be detained for up to 28 days in exceptional circumstances.The Home Secretary said: "We are proposing that where there is a compelling operational need, the Home Secretary can extend the operational limit that a terrorist can be held for up to a maximum of 42 days."To emphasise that the higher limit is exceptional, it must be approved by Parliament within 30 days."The new limit will only be available to police for two months without being renewed but the way the mechanism works means a terror suspect could be still be held for the maximum 42 days even if Parliament eventually rejects the Home Office's application.The vote by the Commons and the Lords could come after the end of the 42-day period, by which time the suspect could have been charged or even released without charge.Ms Smith said: "This isn't about win-win. It is about legislating now for a risk that I am clear does exist, chief constables are clear exist and the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation is also clear exists."She said of the proposal for the new powers: "If they did need to be used it would be in exceptional circumstances and in a way where there was a proven need for it."It is not something we are expecting to become mundane or everyday."Civil liberties campaigners have accused ministers of playing politics with terror laws and abandoning rights which have been won over hundreds of years.Director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti, who has held talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Ms Smith on the issue, accused them of abandoning attempts at consensus.She said earlier: "It seems more like politics than policy-making to me. I think it is a real mistake as I've never seen such good will in the House of Commons."I believed there was a unique opportunity to end the arms race on terror laws, to actually achieve something that would last beyond just one government."She added: "There was real support on all sides of the House. Now it looks like one party has decided to play politics."The Tories and Liberty have argued that existing powers to call a national emergency are sufficient to deal with any case serious enough to justify going beyond 28 days.Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald and former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith both recently questioned the need to extend the present limit.And an influential Commons committee - due to publish a report on the issue this month - was also reported to have concluded there was no evidence for a change.Tony Blair suffered his first Commons defeat when he tried to introduce a 90-day limit and Labour backbenchers are believed to be sufficiently opposed to inflict another reverse.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
ITN | December 6, 2007
