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Counter-Terrorism Bill

It certainly does not destroy the argument. The fact that the director-general of MI5 has said that in public, and the fact that he does not produce chapter and verse of the proof for the committee that the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, sits on, is not very surprising. The former director-general—who is in her place—enumerated that there was an increasing risk in her time, and the current director-general has also cogently explained that there is an increasing risk. The Home Secretary has also said so. Given those sources, there is no doubt about that. People can see it for themselves in the number of cases that are coming into the courts. There are at least 2,000 terrorist suspects, with 200 networks or cells and 30 active plots. Is that not evidence, when someone who knows what they are talking about says that? The noble Lord, Lord Carlile, says that he is convinced of an increasing threat. The evidence is overwhelming. I will not enumerate the staggering statistics about computers and disks that have to be dealt with now after any arrest. The sophisticated complexity of the material; the enormous increase in computer product, which is often encrypted; the multiple identities of suspects, whereby it can take considerable time to establish who an arrested person actually is; the global reach of the contacts involved, which often means reliance on foreign security and intelligence services for information and for operational assistance, are all factors. As I have said in this House before, we are very lucky to have security and intelligence services with a long history of close and successful relations with foreign services, which have often been built up slowly and painstakingly over the years. It is a mistake to think that this is easy or automatic, or that such liaisons can ever be taken for granted. Liaison services have vastly different levels of competence, resources and speed of working. In addition, they will pass on only what does not conflict with their own national interest. All that can mean time-consuming waits for information that our services need to proceed with a case. As I said earlier, what has changed in the Bill is that the Government are trying to deal with a threat of terrorism that is unprecedented in its nature and severity, while trying to preserve democratic principles and practice. They are doing so by introducing unprecedented safeguards and parliamentary involvement, after a very wide and broad consultation. I said on Second Reading and I now repeat that I have never before known a Home Secretary to consult so widely on a Bill. No one pretends that these attempts to satisfy concerns about civil rights and parliamentary control will be easy to implement; in fact it would be much easier to do without them. I understand the reservations of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, about parliamentary involvement in this process. In what I consider to be an authoritative and impressive intervention, he made a very powerful case. He gave his reasons, given his absolutely unparalleled experience of being the independent reviewer in the field of terrorism and terrorist cases, and he made the case for why he believes that we need to go to 42 days. It has already been said that it is ironic that criticism of those very provisions—parliamentary involvement and the safeguards—is coming from those who are most concerned about civil rights. Those provisions were brought in to try to meet the requirements of safeguarding civil rights. This is an honest and brave attempt to balance the operational security requirements of the law enforcement agencies to defend the public with the requirements of civil rights. As such, it deserves our support.