Offer on terror limit 'inadequate'

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Home Secretary Jacqui Smith outlined a series of concessions on Wednesday in a last-ditch bid to head off a highly-damaging Labour backbench Commons revolt next week.

But the joint committee on human rights said the changes were "inadequate" and the Government had still failed to show there was a growing threat to the UK justifying the longer period.

The committee, chaired by Labour MP Andrew Dismore, said the extra safeguards set out by Ms Smith "are inadequate to protect individuals against the threat of arbitrary detention".

Last month, the MPs and peers described the proposals as "confused" and "fundamentally flawed".

Mr Dismore said: "We have carefully considered the proposed amendments to the Counter Terrorism Bill and while of course I welcome any new safeguards, no matter how minor, they do not answer the main point that we have seen nothing that would justify the extension beyond 28 days.

"The proposed extension to 42 days would almost certainly not be lawful."

He said Ms Smith's announcement that the new powers would only be invoked in the case of a "grave exceptional" terror threat or attack was not tight enough.

Ministers should scrap the proposals altogether and instead set out details of how they would opt out of human rights obligations in the case of an "emergency threatening the life of the nation" which is already allowed by the law, he said.

The report said a new requirement for the Home Secretary to publicly declare that she was satisfied there was a serious enough emergency to justify using the powers was "not, in reality, much of a safeguard" without meaningful independent scrutiny.