Criminal Justice Bill
1:15 pm
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman is right. Putting a postcard in a telephone box does not seem to me to justify 36 hours' detention without charge. The Minister will have some difficulty persuading me of the rightness of that view.
For all those reasons, we were not persuaded in Committee and voted against the provision. I was saddened that our Conservative colleagues were not able to join us in that vote but I understand that they had a reasoned approach—they wanted to wait to hear what the Minister might propose and take a view later.