Counterterrorism Review

Debate between Lord Howard of Lympne and Earl Attlee

Wednesday 26th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Maginnis of Drumglass]

My Lords, can I thank—

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, we have not yet had a Conservative Back-Bench question.

[Lord Howard of Lympne]

My Lords, I, too, congratulate my noble friend and, through her, the Home Secretary on striking the right balance in this very difficult area between the need to protect the public and the need to safeguard personal and individual liberty. May I ask about the emergency legislation to extend the period of pre-charge detention? Given what my noble friend has said about the Government’s ability to put that in place very quickly, do they intend this emergency power to be available not simply in a general period or emergency but for an individual suspect under detention, in respect of whom the police, and perhaps a magistrate or a judge, are convinced that a longer period of detention is necessary?