MPs reject Brown call for 56-day detention

By Nigel Morris

Legislation proposed by the Government to allow terrorist suspects to be held for up to 56 days without charge will be condemned today by a parliamentary committee.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights says that ministers and police have failed to make the case for extending the detention period beyond the current 28-day limit.

It says it has seen no evidence that 28 days has been inadequate in any investigations to date, including the complex inquiry into last year’s alleged airline bomb plot. “A power with such a significant impact on liberty … should in our view be justified by clear evidence that the need for such a power already exists – not by precautionary arguments that such a need may arise at some time in the future,” it concludes.

The all-party committee pointed out that other countries facing a terrorist threat allowed their police much shorter detention periods than in Britain.

Gordon Brown has said he wants a consensus on increasing the limit. He has ruled out a fresh attempt to bring in 90-day detention after Tony Blair was defeated on the issue, and hinted at a new maximum of 56 days.

The committee was also scathing about the “Kafka-esque” process for renewing control orders. It said that the system, which involves secret hearings in the subject’s absence, was “very far from fair”.