Liberty calls on Brown to drop plans

The human rights group Liberty has called on the government to drop proposals to hold suspects for up to 42 days without charge.

Speaking on the eve of the second reading of the counter terrorism bill in parliament, the group accused the government of trampling democracy with its designs to curtail national liberties.

"This bill will receive second reading as a virtual formality, but the fight to defend British justice is just beginning," said Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti.

"In the face of a whole range of measured alternatives, to hold someone for more than 1,000 hours without charge would be an international disgrace."

It is thought MPs will vote on the final proposals during late May or early June.

However, the plans are perceptively unpopular among the public, with a YouGov poll commissioned by Liberty this week finding only 13 percent of people agreed the time limit for holding suspects without charge should be raised from 28 to 42 days.

Furthermore, 54 percent of people believe the government’s motivation for the proposals is simply to "look tough on terror".