Counter-Terrorism Bill

I agree with my hon. Friend. She is absolutely right that Liberty has never accepted that there should be an extension. However, the Committee concluded by a vote of 11 to one, with my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) opposing, that:"““If, in…exceptional circumstances, a temporary extension of the pre-charge detention period is deemed essential to secure successful prosecutions of terrorist suspects, the Government should consider building support for proposals that effectively reform the powers of the CCA, secure Parliamentary scrutiny and judicial oversight, but stop short of the requirement to declare a full-scale state of emergency.””" I am grateful to all the members of the Committee who took part in our deliberations, particularly the hon. Members for Newark (Patrick Mercer) and for Reading, East (Mr. Wilson), who did a special amount of work to try to reach the compromise that the Committee finally accepted. I am pleased that our recommendations have assisted the Government in formulating their proposals. The Bill contains many of the safeguards that we recommended. I also welcome their reliance on the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. However, there are three imperatives that I want the Home Secretary to deal with vigorously over the next two months. First, I remain concerned about the length of time that may elapse before Parliament has to approve the reserve power of extended detention, because 30 days is too long and too late for effective parliamentary scrutiny. Involving Parliament earlier would allow for more transparency, better scrutiny and better accountability. Secondly, there must be a genuine national emergency. That was envisaged by the Committee as the discovery of multiple and complex plots aimed at causing massive loss of life, the extent of which would"““overwhelm the capacity and resources of the police and security services.””" That definition is different from what the Government have in the Bill. I was pleased to hear from the Home Secretary that she was prepared to think about the definition of an emergency. Thirdly, this place is the last place that should do anything that would act disproportionately against the Muslim and wider south Asian communities. It is a matter of record—some of the studies were referred to by the Front-Bench spokesmen of both Opposition parties—that members of the Muslim community are disproportionately affected. We should bear in mind the words and experience of the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan). I do not understand the Northern Ireland issue as well as I ought to, but I listened with great care to what he said about the impact that detention powers had not just on his community in Northern Ireland but on the Irish community in this country. That is why we have to tread very carefully. I want to see positive engagement by the Government with the communities affected. Without their co-operation and engagement with decision makers, I am afraid that we cannot win this fight. I welcome a number of other aspects of the Bill that the Government have accepted further to our report. We concluded that the possibility of post-charge questioning would be an important tool in securing prosecutions. I am very pleased that that recommendation has been accepted and features in the Bill, along with the codes of practice that were also recommended. The Committee was also clear that it was ridiculous that British prosecutors could not use intercept evidence in court. The Prime Minister has accepted that in principle in his statements to the House on security issues, although of course there are issues that need to be considered. I am therefore happy to support the Bill on Second Reading. It contains valuable and worthwhile proposals in the fight against terrorism. I accept the need for reserve powers, but in very exceptional circumstances, which I believe still need to be defined in the Bill. I hope that in Committee, the Home Secretary will work to build the consensus necessary to convince the House that the safeguards that she has proposed will meet the concerns that have rightly been raised and deal with the three imperatives that I have mentioned. As I said earlier, I am pleased that she is prepared to consider at least one of those points. We know that in the current climate some of our precious liberties have to be sacrificed for the protection of the public. None the less, although terrorists do not stop and question the rights and wrongs of what they do, we must—or we will become what we seek to destroy.