Schedule 1
Counter-Terrorism Bill
4:30 pm
John Heppell (Nottingham East, Labour)
I did not mean to speak to the schedule, but I was prompted by the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield and my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport. I agree with my hon. Friend on one thing. Someone asked whether this was really about making the Government look tough on terrorism. I must say that I have no great objection to the Government looking tough on terrorism, but what I certainly want is for them to be tough on terrorism.
I disagreed with my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport when she said that she was sure that everyone in the room wanted consensus. I do not believe that that is true any more. I have listened to this debate since before Second Reading, and I think that people have pretty much come with their minds made up, for a number of reasons. There is a consensus, but it is not a consensus between the Government and the Opposition. It is a consensus among the Liberals, the Tories, Liberty and a number of groups.
The hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield has two things in his favour. He has long campaigned for civil liberties and has brought up issues such as intercept evidence in other Committees. He has a history of that, but my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, West hit the nail on the head when he said that the hon. and learned Gentleman wore the issue of the number of days as a badge of honour. It is the issue on which he managed to turn over the Government, and there is no way he will give way on his past victory—his baby. I am fairly certain that that is one of his reasons. The other thing in his favour is that he is a lawyer. That excuses people from all sorts of strange things when it comes to human rights and the law.
I believe that many Opposition Members are having a hard time justifying—