Terrorism (Detention and Human Rights)

I understood that from reading the report. The French system may provide greater flexibility, but it also shows that if an examining magistrate gets a bee in his bonnet, that can lead to terrible miscarriages of justice or, at the very least, to people being detained sometimes for very long periods that turn out to be unjustified. We need to bear that in mind. Countries have different systems. The French and ourselves strive for justice, but we should not abandon lightly some of the principles that we enjoy in this country. I am conscious that I have spoken for longer than I intended and I shall bring my remarks to a close, covering only, I suspect, some of the issues raised in the two very valuable reports that we are considering. I hope that the Government use the opportunity provided by this debate and other opportunities that may arise for dialogue with other political parties and those outside the House, to understand that there is a real willingness to tackle the issue together. The problem that we are discussing is a common one. We are all equally likely to be blown up or killed. The threat is fairly ubiquitous. None of us wishes to jeopardise the security of the public. It is a long-term problem, but we have to get our country through it successfully as a free and peaceful place, and the maintenance of freedom requires quite a lot of vigilance. Shortcuts, in my experience, do not work. It is with that in mind that I hope we can approach any review that we carry out of our anti-terrorism legislation.