Schedule 1
Counter-Terrorism Bill
4:00 pm
David Davies (Monmouth, Conservative)
I always think that there is a slight disadvantage in coming back to Committee in these situations, because having marshalled my arguments and worked myself up into a lather towards the climax of the previous sitting, I suddenly find that coming back from lunch, everyone is in a different frame of mind. However, I shall briefly recap on the point that I was making when the interruption occurred.
I felt that if the legislation were enacted, it would not be long before further legislation—perhaps what the Government have called “tidying-up legislation”—removed some of the safeguards that are being put in place. I welcome the safeguards, but I would rather not have to have them, and do without the whole thing. I fear that if we detain people for up to 42 days to question them on terrorism offences without charging them, in all probability it will not be long before we follow the argument to its logical conclusion and allow people to be detained for up to 42 days for questioning about a range of other offences. The offences meriting such a measure might involve, as I mentioned earlier, child pornography rings, organised crime, drug dealers and people traffickers. They are all examples of serious criminals whose actions have affected, and continue to affect, far more people than the terrorists who committed the horrendous atrocities in London in the past few years. Logically, if we allow terrorists to be detained in that fashion, there is no reason why we should not allow such serious criminals to be detained in that fashion, too.