Counter-Terrorism Bill (Programme) (No. 2)

I shall speak very briefly on the programme motion. There are many substantive proposals in the Bill over and above the 42-day issue, and we must spend the time available today and tomorrow looking at the welcome changes—I shall not call them concessions—that the Government have made in respect of post-charge questioning, which we are about to discuss, or other matters such as sentencing, control orders and inquests. The fundamental point about the debate today and tomorrow, as opposed to what happened in Committee, is that there is a long list of amendments, many of them tabled by the Government, that we hope to consider in the next couple of days. The issue is the amount of time available in which to do that. I share the concerns expressed by other hon. Members about the fact that there are large chunks of amendments that we will not get to consider today, including those on the notification requirements—an issue that we raised in Committee. If we run out of time today, we hope that the issue can be addressed adequately in the other place, as unfortunately it will not be possible for us to do that today.