Terrorism Act 2000 (Section 44)

Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)]

Can the Secretary of State assure me that the counter-terrorism review to which she referred will draw a line under the abuse of state powers that we have seen over the past decade and that civil liberties will be sacrificed no longer for the sake of new laws that do not make us any safer?

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point on the concern that many of us have had about the powers that were introduced by the previous Labour Government: in many cases, those powers did not introduce an increased element of safety. In fact, the shadow Home Secretary referred to the review of counter-terrorism undertaken by Lord Carlile, who said in his 2009 annual report:

“There is little or no evidence that the use of section 44 has the potential to prevent an act of terrorism as compared with other statutory powers of stop and search.”