National Security

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 12:31 pm on 14 November 2007.

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Photo of Gordon Brown Gordon Brown The Prime Minister, Leader of the Labour Party 12:31, 14 November 2007

It is precisely for the reasons that the right hon. Gentleman suggests that people must be sure of the evidence, the ground on which the proposal has been considered and the detail of it, in so far as how it protects the civil liberties of the individual. I have been anxious that there be a proper debate, both here and outside the House, on that very matter. In the interests of a common front in the fight against terrorism, I am anxious that, wherever possible, we can find consensus on that issue. There is new evidence about the sophistication, the complexity and the international nature of those cases. No one looking at, for example, the airline plot or at other investigations, including even the June investigations, is under any illusion but that we are dealing with contacts with large numbers of people in different continents. No one is under any illusion, either, but that we are dealing with sophisticated technological evidence that would have to be analysed in great detail. The question is whether we can provide sufficient safeguards so that individual liberties are protected and arbitrariness is avoided in circumstances where it may be necessary—I think that that is acknowledged in principle, although people are worried about the effect in practice—to go beyond 28 days. Therefore, I thank him for his question because that is exactly the way the debate should happen.