Further written evidence to be reported to the House
Counter-Terrorism Bill
12:00 pm
Gareth Crossman: No. That is a significant problem. There has been a tendency, not only in counter-terrorism, but across the board in legislating over the last few years, to set the parameters of the legislation quite wide, and then make a promise that it will not be used in inappropriate ways. I will give a couple of examples: section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which the legislation states was passed specifically for anti-terrorism purposes, has been used as a general stop-and-search tool. That is not the opinion only of Liberty; it is the opinion expressed by the Metropolitan Police Authority. A week or so ago, we heard that Poole council in Dorset had been using powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000—those are very invasive powers—specifically to find out whether people were operating within the catchment area of a local school. I suggest that that purpose was not identified by Parliament at the time.