This piece has just hit the wires and is, in its current form, pretty thin on detail but it appears that Brown is prepared to compromise over the unnecessary and ill-thought out 42-day detention without charge proposal. If true, it is good news that Brown is again listening to the concerns of his parliamentary colleagues. But a compromise is not enough.
- To avoid alienating young British Muslims and driving them into the arms of radical Islamic terrorists.
- Because the current 28-day rule is already grossly excessive (in the US suspects can only be held for two days without charge and in Spain, the third Western country to have suffered a radical Islamic terrorist attack, the maximum detention period is five days)
- Because there is no evidence whatsoever that the period is justified and no examples can be provided by the Government in which the existing 28-day rule has proved insufficient.
- Because the UN Human Rights Committee asserts that the delay in charging a suspect held in captivity "must not exceed a few days".
- Because it contravenes the cherished principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
- Because the Sir Ken MacDonald QC the Director of Public Prosecutions has said "I am satisfied with 28 days".
- Because Sally Hemming the Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Counter-Terrorism Division has said "I have not seen any evidence that we have needed beyond 28 days".
Gordon Brown could show himself as a man of greater integrity by accepting the evidence than he would by sticking dogmatically to a bad policy. It is an opportunity to set the political agenda. He would be foolish to pass this opportunity up.
