Highlights below. Full speech here.
"Today there are essentially two arguments to deal with. The first is, has the government made its case for 42 days? If not, then this change should be rejected out of hand, because you do not give away freedom without good cause. Secondly, if it has made its case, are the powers proportionate, and are the checks and balances to prevent both improper use of the powers and injustices adequate?"
"For almost 800 years, we have built on the right of habeas corpus founded in that ancient document the fundamental freedom from arbitrary detention by the state. The liberty of the person is in our blood, part of our history, part of our way of life. Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Democratic Unionists and other parties. Liberty is the common strand that binds us together. We have shed blood to protect it, both abroad and at home. Today, the government asks us to sacrifice some of that liberty.'
"Let us start with the Home Secretary’s own witnesses. Witness number one, Sir Iain Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. In his evidence to Parliament, the Commissioner said explicitly ‘We have never put forward a case that there is evidence of a need for an extension.’ He based his support for 42 days on a ‘pragmatic inference’, based on trends in the number of plots and their complexity. In support of that, he and his counter terrorism chief initially claimed that there had been 15 terrorist plots thwarted since the 7/7 bombing." It was on that basis he presented his evidence to the Bill Committee. But then it transpired there had been a mistake. The corrected evidence revealed the true picture which is that between 2003 and 2005 there were 9 plots and 4 since the beginning of 2006. So far from increasing the number of plots has decreased over the last 3 years. Mr Deputy Speaker, that is a good thing. But it is not an argument for more powers."
"The second witness in support of an increase in detention without charge is Mr Peter Clarke. As was argued in the 90 day debate, he told us how complex and technical anti-terror cases were becoming. His example of a technically challenging case was Dhiren Barot. There is no doubt it was technically challenging, but a case in which charges were successfully brought inside 14 days is hardly evidence that we need three times that long. Mr Clarke offered the observation that in the Barot case, police officers had occasion to sleep at the office. Frankly, I would prefer that police officers sleep at the office for two weeks than risk putting innocent people in a cell for 6 weeks.".
"Mr Deputy Speaker, Ministers now say they will pay compensation in cases where innocent people are detained for longer than 28 days. Could we ever have a more explicit admission of the inevitable failure of this law? Or the foreseeable injustices it will bring? It is for this House to search its conscience to determine whether putting in place a system of six weeks detention in which on current experience half or more are likely to prove innocent will serve the vital interests of either national security or British justice."
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