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Terrorism Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that very generous acknowledgement. I say to him that even in terms of the 90 days, the comparison cannot be made because here we have the Human Rights Act and we have a vibrant and robust judiciary which has demonstrated time and time again its resilience, courage and independence and it has not hesitated to disagree when it felt it was appropriate. I say to the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, that unfortunately I fundamentally disagree with him on the comments that he made about the way which our police forces have responded in these very difficult times. We need to honour what they have done on our behalf. The strenuous efforts that they have made, and continue to make, make this country a safer and securer place than if we had many of the police constabularies that other countries have. I say as strongly as I can on behalf of the Government that we thank and applaud the police for the efforts that they make on our behalf. It is now for the House to determine what stance it wishes to take on these matters. The House should understand that the Government’s position was that the 90 days was the right balance.