42-day detention Bill to be shelved after U-turn

The flagship anti-terrorism legislation will be allowed to die when, as expected, it is defeated in the Lords, government sources indicated.

It means that months of parliamentary debate, a Labour rebellion, a searing row between ministers and the civil liberties lobby plus a curious by-election that cost David Davis his frontbench career may have been for nothing.

Downing Street today insisted that the Prime Minister remains committed to the 42-day detention proposal. But when asked if he was still prepared to invoke the Parliament Act to steamroll it onto the statute books, the official spokesman refused to "get into hypotheticals".

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who led the fight to push the 42-day detention plan through the Commons was also said to be uneasy at the thought of having to do so a second time if the Parliament-Act was invoked. Chief Whip Nick Brown argued that it could cause a serious split in Labour.

Sources confirmed that Mr Brown now wanted to be seen to be focusing on the economic crisis, which would be undermined if he had to devote months to a battle with the Lords on 42-day detention.

Some 36 Labour MPs rebelled in June when the Bill passed the Commons by a majority of nine - saved only after the Ulster Unionists were won round, allegedly by promises of extra Government grants for Northern Ireland.

The Lords are expected to vote it down this month but the Government has the option of invoking the Parliament Act, which empowers the Commons to overrule the Upper House in a year's time.

Mr Brown's spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is clear that pushing ahead with the 42-days legislation is the right thing to do, given that the House of Commons has expressed its will." But he refused to say what would happen in the event of a Lords defeat. Rebel Labour MP David Winnick urged the premier today to abandon the Bill. "The last thing we need is for the Parliamentary Labour Party to be divided at this moment," he said.

Former Metropolitan Police anti-terror chief Andy Hayman today warned that the Counter-Terrorism Bill had been altered so much that it was no longer workable. Branding it a " legislative monster", he admitted that the Metropolitan Police had its "fingers badly burnt" over its support for Tony Blair's failed bid to extend detention without charge to 90 days.

The former Assistant Commissioner for Special Operations at Scotland Yard also told The Times: "I am convinced that we will soon need the power to hold suspects for more than the current limit of 28 days - and that we need to legislate for that power now rather than in the middle of an emergency. But this Bill is not the answer."

The legislation also faced opposition from Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, and Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions.