Davis: Case for 42-days has collapsed

Wednesday, 11, Jun 2008 12:00

David Davis, shadow home secretary, comments on the vote over 42-day detention:

"This week marks the anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.

"For almost 800 years, we have built on the right of habeas corpus founded in that ancient document the fundamental freedom from arbitrary detention by the state.

"The liberty of the person is in our blood, part of our history, part of our way of life. Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Democratic Unionists and other parties - liberty is the common strand that binds us together. We have shed blood to protect it, both abroad and at home.

Today, the government asks us to sacrifice some of that liberty.

The Home Secretary offers a Faustian bargain to trade a fundamental liberty for a little extra security. And yet as this debate has gone on, the case for 42 days has crumbled, then collapsed."