Terrorism (Detention and Human Rights)

I am delighted to open the debate and I am grateful that the relevant authorities agreed that both Select Committee reports can be debated at the same time. Not only does that make better use of the Minister’s time, but it makes a great deal of sense because they examine essentially the same issues. On the way in which we discuss terrorism legislation and the lessons that can be drawn from the debate on 90-day pre-charge detention, an early conclusion of the Select Committee on Home Affairs was that"““in our view the primary origin of the difficulties experienced by the Government lies in the lack of care with which the case for a maximum 90 day detention period was promoted.””" I make that point at the outset because, this afternoon, we need to look for ways to ensure that when we consider terrorism legislation in future, we learn some of the lessons from the difficult period that the House of Commons and Parliament as a whole went through last year when we dealt with a vital piece of legislation. I make that point not to get at or to over-criticise the Government, but to say that we need to move on and ask how we can do things better. We have in front of us two reports on similar issues, but with different approaches. To some extent, they reached different conclusions, and careful reading shows that the two Committees asked slightly different questions. I have no doubt that if last year’s debate on pre-charge detention had taken place after the inquiries by the two Committees the debate would have been better and the House would have reached a consensus much more easily on the appropriate detention period.