Lib Dems call on local MPs to oppose 42 days detention plans

11.10.17am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 9th Jun 2008

Sarah with Shami Chakrabarti Director of Liberty and Vivienne Westwood protesting against 42 days detention without charge

Next Wednesday MPs will vote on the government's controversial plans to extend detention without charge for terrorist suspects to 42 days. The proposal is opposed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, and former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, as well as many senior police officers. Islington-based Amnesty International says "Granting this power is unacceptable and robs people of their basic rights."

Lib Dem campaigner Bridget Fox says, "MPs rejected the 42 days proposal in 2005; it is still unjustified today. Even the Government admit there is no need for this power now, but say it be needed at some future date. It is wrong to give the Government such powers over us without urgent need.

"The proposal is more about trying to make Gordon Brown look strong than making Londoners safer. We are urging Islington's Labour MPs to do the right thing; vote with the Liberal Democrats and oppose 42 days."

Liberal Democrat MEP for London Sarah Ludford, the LibDems European justice spokeswoman, added:

"Demolishing our liberties will be a propaganda coup for our terrorist enemies and dodgy regimes around the world, while deeply dismaying our European and international friends. Six weeks detention without charge will be the longest period in the democratic world. France has 6 days, Canada 1 day, Turkey 7.5, and even the US only 2 days, so we are hopelessly out of line.

"Throwing away traditional British freedoms will demolish Britain's moral authority as the home of habeas corpus, Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights, and undermine any ability to rebuke abuses in the rest of the world. Already Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe is citing UK internment plans as a precedent and alibi. The tragedy is that it is only being done - disgracefully, by a Labour government - to make political mischief, not out of real necessity."