The House of Commons has rejected Tony Blair’s call to allow police to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without charging them.
MPs voted against by 322 votes to 291, with 49 Labour MPs rebelling.
Then followed a vote on a rebel Labour amendment for increasing the detention period from the current period of 14 days to a period of 28 days. That was passed by 323 votes to 290.
The story is covered by the Guardian and the BBC.
I’m pleased that it was defeated, shows that some Labour backbenchers have the balls not to follow the party line and I believe democracy has prevailed. There seemed to be a lot of public support for the proposed extension so it could be argued that the MPs voted against the wishes of their constituents but there has been so little real public debate of the issue that I don’t believe that the general public was informed enough to make a judgement on it.
It has really pissed me off that supporters of the 90 day period kept saying “well the experts tell us that this is the length of time needed.”
Which fucking experts?
The police you say. What about all the fucking independent experts who are saying that such an amendment will not achieve what it is set out to do and in all likelihood will cause further problems and increased insecurity.
Of course the police want to hold suspect without charge for longer, they’d support any move that gave them increased powers. Yet given recent events can we really trust their judgement on who is or who isn’t a terrorist suspect and who should be held without charge.
Of course the government will not fall following this defeat, I wouldn’t wish it to, and I very much doubt Tony will go either although his authority has taken a severe bashing.
But it’s the stupid cunts own fault. I really don’t know what is going on in his fucking head. I’m sure he’s imagining there are terrorists around every corner poised to strike at 45 minutes notice.
BBC News: Q&A: Blair’s terror bill defeat
What are the implications of this defeat for Tony Blair’s government in the commons.
BBC News: Point-by-point: Terror debate
The main points so far from the debate over whether to extend from 14 days to 90 days the length of time police can detain terrorist suspects without charge
Have your say on this issue at the BBC forum
Curious Hamster gives his response to the vote results.
Public opinion is not always the best indicator of what is best for the country. It’s a difficult problem to tackle without suggesting some form of intellectual elitist power structure which opens a huge new set of problems. That’s part of the reason why democracy can be so fragile and why protecting it properly is so very important.
I’m agreement on the fact that public opinion is not always the best indicator of what is best for the country.
Also disturbingly I’m in the position of having admiration for David Davis the Shadow Home Secretary who made some excellent points in the debate before the vote.
