Gordon Brown: 42-day detention – a fair solution

In today’s Times the Prime Minister spoke out about the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

You can find a summary of the article below, but the full version can be read online http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4045210.ece

Next week, when Parliament votes on the proposal to detain terrorist suspects without charge for up to 42 days, hard choices have to be made.

Britain has lived with terrorist threats for decades. But I am under no illusion that today's threats are different in their scale and nature from anything we have faced before.

The challenge for every government is to respond to the changing demands of national security, while upholding something that is at the heart of the British constitutional settlement: the preservation of civil liberties.

We propose to make those changes in a manner that maximises the protection of individuals against arbitrary treatment our policy:

1. Our first principle is that there should always be a maximum limit on pre-charge detention. After detailed consultation with the police, and examination of recent trends in terrorist cases, we propose the upper limit of 42 days;

2. Our second principle is that detention beyond 28 days can be allowed only in truly exceptional circumstances – a decision made the Home Secretary but which must also be backed by the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the police;

3. Our third principle is that the Home Secretary must then take this decision to Parliament for approval. If Parliament refused to sanction the decision, the existing 28-day limit would stand.

4. Fourthly, the judiciary must oversee each individual case, with a senior judge required to approve the extension of detention in each individual case every seven days up to the new higher limit;

5. Fifthly, to enhance accountability there must be independent reporting to Parliament and the public on all cases.

So I say to those with legitimate concerns about civil liberties: look at these practical safeguards against arbitrary treatment. With these protections in place, I believe Parliament should take the right decision for national security.