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Terrorism Bill

My Lords, I start with a confession. I have had a secret admiration for the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Crosby, since she was Labour Secretary of State for Education. At that time, two young student leaders, the noble Lord, Lord McNally, and myself, confronted her on overseas students fees. I still have that admiration for her, although I confess that I have come to a different conclusion in relation to this debate. We all recall the horror, the tragic loss of life, the maiming and the grief of the London bombings on 7 July. Or do we really? Sometimes it is far too easy for the rest of us to move on. Our lives move on and so do we, for the bombs did not hit the barristers’ chambers of the Inns of Court, the dining rooms of Islington or Hampstead, or, indeed, the Palace of Westminster, but ordinary working people going about their everyday business on buses and underground trains. The lives of Muslims as well as Christians and non-believers were shattered or destroyed on 7 July. As the noble Baroness, Lady Symons, rightly said, some people—lobbyists and lawyers—go on and on about human rights as if they did not apply equally, if not more, to the victims and the accused. They argue that we are no better than the terrorists if we infringe the human rights of terrorist suspects. Terrorists are laughing at us as they exploit such freedoms for their campaigns of terrorism, for Britain and London in particular have for too long been the main bases of terror organisations, and we have been subjected to criticism by other countries for allowing that to be the case. I can understand the woolly-minded liberals objecting to provisions in the Bill. I cannot remember them supporting any provisions to deal with terrorists that have been brought forward by the Labour Government in the past eight years. But I do not understand Labour Members opposing the Bill, and I do not understand the Conservatives doing so, given their history and traditions.