Schedule 1
Counter-Terrorism Bill
4:00 pm
David Davies (Monmouth, Conservative)
I certainly accept that terrorists destroy people’s lives, but surely the hon. Gentleman will accept my line of reasoning that people involved in child abuse, drug dealers and people traffickers all destroy people’s lives, too. They are destroying, and have destroyed, people’s lives, and they have probably—in fact, almost certainly—destroyed more lives than terrorists have over the past five years, so if pre-emptive detention would work against terrorists, it would work against those people, too. I should like those people taken off the streets, and it would be hard to argue against using methods that, if the Government are right, would be effective against terrorists, and could be used against other people, too, such as other serious criminals who have committed serious offences and destroyed more lives than terrorists have over the past few years.
If Labour Members are so concerned about terrorists, why did they enact the Human Rights Act 1998, which has caused so many of the problems that they are now, belatedly, trying to address? The Act enabled people, whom we knew had already been involved in terrorism, to enter this country, claim asylum and use the full panoply of legal aid and lawyers to argue that they should be allowed to remain here. The Government got themselves tied up in knots because they called for people to be thrown out of the country but found that they could not do so. They then wanted people to be detained indefinitely but found that they could not do that either—all because of the Human Rights Act. It has become a charter for foreign terrorists to enter this country and enjoy apparent immunity from prosecution. I say to Labour Members that, rather than introduce a draconian piece of legislation that will strip all British subjects of the rights that they have enjoyed since the 17th century, they should admit that the Human Rights Act was a mistake and that it has given protection to people whom we know are involved in terrorism. They should have the decency—