Protection of Freedoms Bill

I will start with some general comments and then come directly to the amendments and new clauses. Obviously, this is the first time that I have spoken about these matters in a shadow ministerial capacity, and I want to underline the fact that Her Majesty's loyal Opposition remain loyal on these issues. It is often said—just because it is a truism does not make it untrue—that the single most important thing that a Government have to do is protect their citizens, and we fully accept that. It was said earlier that it is important to balance the security of the nation and civil liberties. I disagree with the framing of the debate in that way, because I think that the two are intertwined—someone has personal liberty only if they are safe and feel it, but they have liberty only if those particular liberties are granted to them as well. I would try to say that the two are not mutually exclusive, but intimately intertwined. Outside London, people often think that issues of counter-terrorism are primarily the responsibility of the Metropolitan police and to do with what happens in the metropolitan areas of the country. However, I clearly remember that after 11 September, when Americans stopped flying, people were laid off at GE Aviation in Nantgarw just outside my constituency because it did not need to make any more aircraft engines. We are all intimately involved. Following the bombings in London, all the schools in my constituency cancelled their visits to Westminster for about a year, because there was a nervousness about coming up to London. We need to get these issues right. On the specific issue, I think that the Government have got themselves into something of a conundrum. There are plenty of issues on which we now fundamentally agree. Broadly speaking, everybody agrees that the norm should be 14 days—indeed, we would prefer it if all 14 days were not used; it is a fundamental principle that as soon as it is possible to bring charges, those charges should be brought and the system of criminal justice then proceeds. Whenever somebody is detained pre-charge, that is ostensibly an embarrassment at least and an undermining of that person's civil liberties. As the Government's amendments on what would happen in Dissolution reveal, it is universally accepted that there may be exceptional circumstances in which we would need to go beyond 14 days. Many have speculated about them; my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Alun Michael) mentioned, for instance, when a large number of cases come simultaneously or when it is particularly difficult to gather some of the evidence pre-charge—for example, if a person who was part of a plot left the country and had to be brought back. After 7/7, the European arrest warrant helped us, as we were able to bring people back from Italy much faster than we could have done otherwise. The Government would not have advanced the power-making role during Dissolution unless they accepted that there might be exceptional circumstances. However, they do not want to provide in statute now for making such a power available to the Secretary of State, however corralled around it is by protective measures. That is where they have got themselves into a bit of a problem. The power to dissolve Parliament and, for that matter, the power to hold the Queen's Speech, is held by the Crown, by Government. It seems bizarre that in that exceptional moment, when the Government have more power than at any other time, we would give them the power to allow an extension to 28 days—corralled around in the various ways that the Minister provided for—but not in other circumstances, when Parliament can hold the Crown to account. The amendment relating to the power of Dissolution is ludicrously over-complicated. It certainly would not pass any ““easy English”” rule, given the number of sub-clauses and intricacies.