Brown urges party unity over terror bill
Prime minister Gordon Brown has urged all Labour MPs to support the planned extension to the period terror suspects can be held without charge.
Mr Brown has written a letter to MPs ahead of the vote on the issue on Wednesday in the hope of staving off a party revolt against the proposal to increase the length of detention from 28 to 42 days.
The government has previously said that the request to hold suspects for a further 14 days was necessary due to the increasingly complexity of terrorism investigations and the scale of the threat.
In his letter to Labour colleagues, Mr Brown wrote that civil liberty concerns were being kept in mind whilst ensuring the need for improved security.
“In the legislation currently before Parliament, we have done everything in our power to protect the civil liberties of the individual against any arbitrary treatment, because in Britain liberty is, and remains, at the centre of our constitutional settlement.
“The challenge has been to make sure that, through proper judicial and parliamentary oversight, we both keep the public free from the threat to our security, and secure the fundamental liberties of the citizen,” he added.
The prime minister also said that the legislation was in line with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In November 2005, former prime minister Tony Blair suffered his first Commons defeat over legislation to extend the period terror suspects can be held without charge to 90 days.
