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Counter-Terrorism Bill

Indeed it does. I shall deal briefly with the safeguard—the parliamentary scrutiny. It is a complete fig leaf and a waste of time, for two main reasons. If we are given merely an outline of the case and the need for an extension on the view of the Secretary of State, Parliament will nod it through and vote yes. What if the matter goes to appeal and a court says no? Where will we be at that point? That is one of the problems involved with dressing Parliament up in a quasi-judicial function—a constitutional experiment that is doomed to failure. On the other hand, if we are given all the details, as we arguably should be if we are to supervise the thing properly and scrutinise it, that will make a fair trial impossible. In the rush to try to get Back Benchers on board, the Government have made a complete mess of this part of the Bill. It is not even logical, let alone workable. It is nothing other than a fig leaf and, in the words of the Joint Committee on Human Rights,"““a virtually meaningless safeguard against wrongful exercise of the power.””" Justice said:"““By definition, pre-charge detention is detention in circumstances where no evidence has been offered to charge a suspect with a criminal offence. No amount of additional parliamentary or judicial scrutiny can hope to overcome the fundamental lack of fairness caused by detaining a suspect without charge for ever increasing periods of time””." This part of the Bill is flawed. I have not touched on some of the opinions of various informed people on whether it is compliant with human rights, but I will not go down that road now. I know, however, that the Government have their opinion, and it is a moot point to say the least. Whatever we legislate and whenever we legislate, we should do it proportionately. This part of the Bill is not proportionate in any way. It is bad law, it has no evidential basis, it is unconstitutional and it is downright wrong. It has no place in any modern democracy.