Howard reveals “misgivings” over terror laws
Conservative leader Michael Howard today said that he had “serious misgivings” about the new anti-terror laws announced by Home Secretary Charles Clarke last week.
He disagrees with the plans to permit suspected terrorists to be put under house arrest on the order of the Home Secretary because nobody should be “deprived of their liberty on the say so of a politician.”
Mr Howard, whose views are shared by shadow Home Secretary David Davis, also warned that house arrest could be “counter productive” because “internment without trial creates martyrs.”
“As David Davis said last week, we could find ourselves confining one known terrorist only to recruit ten others,” he said.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced plans last week for “control orders”, under which terror suspects could be subject to restrictions including home arrest, electronic tagging and a ban on phone and internet use.
It was his response to the Law Lords’ decision to rule illegal the detention of terror suspects held without charge at Belmarsh high-security prison.
Today Mr Howard put forward his own response to the Law Lords’ ruling. He said those accused of terrorist offences must be brought to trial, and must be detained in prison while they await trial.
He also maintained that phone-tap evidence should be admissible in court, but to protect intelligence soures a judge should be given responisbility for assessing the evidence.
Mr Howard said: “Terrorism is a real threat in Britain today. We simply cannot afford to ignore it. The first duty of government – any government – is to protect the public: to protect life. But in dealing with this threat, we must also protect the British way of life – otherwise the terrorists have won a victory.”
