Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

We will not oppose the order. The Minister's speech contained much good sense and I agree with much of what he said. Now is not the time for a rehearsal of the powerful arguments for and against the extension to 42 days; we are here to discuss 28 days. I was struck by the Minister's remarks about a consensus; he even said nice things about Liberty and its comments on 28 days. I want to sign up to that spirit of consensus about 28 days, and support the Minister on it. It is worth stating the obvious: the need for Parliament to renew section 23 of the 2006 Act annually demonstrates that the extension from 14 to 28 days is already an exceptional power. We must scrutinise it annually because it is such a dramatic departure from normal practice in this country. As I said, Her Majesty's Opposition will not oppose the order, which keeps the maximum period of detention without charge at 28 days. We do not oppose it because there is a consensus, as the Minister observed, but it is based on the evidence currently available to us. I would like to place on record not only the view of my former right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden but that of my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve). They both made it crystal clear, in the same terms, that in future, 28 days must be tested on the evidence available every time we test the proposition for it—in other words, annually—so that the figure is not set in stone for all time or even for a reasonably long time. It must be examined each year in the light of evidence available. That could lead to the House agreeing to a different figure.