Terrorism Bill

My hon. Friend makes up for the lack of opportunity to make a speech with a characteristically powerful intervention. I do not disagree with the anxieties that he expresses, although I shall try shortly to explain why I personally feel comfortable in supporting the Government on Second Reading. Hon. Members who, broadly speaking, believe that the Bill is worthy of support and that there is good in it, made some important contributions. I was especially struck by the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) who provided a reasoned analysis and powerful arguments for why he believed that the period of detention would have to be extended from 14 days. He was joined by the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) and I listened carefully to the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr. Cash), who always approaches our deliberations from a different angle. Nevertheless, we have to consider it. The hon. Members for Dewsbury (Mr. Malik) and for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) and the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) had a great deal to say about community relations. That must be a starting point. There is no point in the House legislating ad nauseam to create new structures to try to stop terrorists, because we know very well—I am sure that the Home Secretary will be the first to acknowledge this—that the way to stop terrorism in the long term involves two things. The first is adequate security. The second is pinching terrorism out at its source by making it completely unacceptable in any section of our community. Those must be our two aims, but I have to say to the Home Secretary that the Bill does not address either of them, because it looks specifically at the legislative functions by which a greater penal policy can be directed towards the issue.