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Counter-Terrorism Bill

The example to which the hon. Gentleman refers involves charges made after the event, but he repeats a claim made by many people in the course of this argument—that, compared with other comparable democracies, this country takes a disproportionate approach to these matters. I ask hon. Members to consider what happens in France, where the investigative magistrates system means that people are often held for up to four years while terrorist cases are investigated—[Interruption.] The point being that it is actually quite difficult to make comparisons between the regime in the UK and that in other countries; only the other day, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner described it as like comparing apples and goats. There is a significant difference. People who make the case—as some have done in putting forward their argument—that we should look to regimes such as Russia or even Zimbabwe as examples of the way in which we should carry out—[Interruption.] People have made the argument in terms of such international comparisons, so I have to ask Members whether they think that all things considered we have a fairer and better regime in the UK than in some other countries. Notwithstanding the difficulty of making comparisons, I think they will accept that we do.