Terror law consensus breaks down
Charles Kennedy has warned the government cannot count on support from the Liberal Democrats for its anti-terror measures.
In what appears to be a breakdown in the cross-party consensus that has characterised political debate since the London bombings, the Lib Dem leader criticised the latest announcements by Tony Blair.
The prime minister today detailed plans to tighten the home secretary’s powers to deport people found to have engaged in ‘unacceptable behaviours’, and to crack down on imams and mosques found to be preaching extremist ideas.
A two-week consultation on what these behaviours should include has now been launched, with offences of fomenting or justifying terrorism, fostering community hatred and advocating violence to further particular beliefs likely to be included.
“As a society we all hold essential values in common: democracy, liberty and diversity in strong communities,” home secretary Charles Clarke said.
“In the circumstances that we now face, while treading carefully in areas that relate to free speech, it is right to broaden the use of exclusion and deportation powers to deal with those who foment terrorism, or seek to provoke others to commit terrorist acts.”
Mr Blair said the British public was angry and demanded some kind of action to crack down on terrorists in the UK and elsewhere, something Charles Kennedy accepted.
But the Lib Dem leader said today’s announcement “put the cross-party consensus under serious strain”, saying the agreement to properly consult opposition parties on their proposals “seems to have broken down”.
“The prime minister intends to ban Muslim organisations, seek powers to close down mosques, and deport people who visit particular bookshops or websites,” Mr Kennedy said.
“He is running the risk of inflaming tensions and alienating Muslims at the very time we need the different communities of Britain to pull together.
“The Liberal Democrats will examine the detail of these measures, but the prime minister should not count on our support. We shall reserve our position until we have consulted properly ourselves – albeit against a constrained August timetable.”
The Conservatives were more conciliatory, with shadow home secretary David Davis welcoming the consultation and saying powers to deport people who threaten national security should be applied as soon as possible.
“It is vital that the home secretary is able to use his powers to deport or exclude non-UK citizens who threaten our national security – we have been calling for him to use these for some time. There is no reason why they cannot be applied as soon as possible,” he said.
But Mr Davis said it was vital the government consult all the relevant organisations within what is a “very short consultation period” to ensure the behaviours were “properly considered”.
