Terror law is crucial, says Blair
Tony Blair has hit back at critics of the government’s new anti-terror plans, saying it would be a “defeat” for UK security if the new proposals were blocked.
He accused opponents of the new bill, which include plans to hold terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge, of “woeful complacency”.
But a Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed that there will have to be some compromise over the plans. She said: “The prime minister acknowledges there will have to be negotiations and/or compromise, but as far as he is concerned 90 days continues to be right.”
Current legislation means that police are able to hold terror subjects without charge for 14 days, but Mr Blair is adamant that this should be increased.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he said that global terrorism “is a worldwide movement based on a religious fanaticism that is designed to turn the minds of these people into mass-murdering terrorists”.
“I find it really odd that we’re having to make the case that this is an issue, when virtually every week, somewhere in the world, terrorists loosely linked with the same movement are killing scores of people,” Mr Blair added.
However, ex-prime minister Sir John Major condemned the 90 day plans, and warned the measure was unlikely to gain Parliamentary approval.
“I think the 90 day concept is utterly and totally unacceptable in a liberal society,” he told ITV1’s Jonathan Dimbleby programme.
Mr Blair acknowledged it would be a setback for the government if the terror bill was not approved by MPs this week.
In the Commons last week, home secretary Charles Clarke was forced to promise new talks after it became clear the measures faced defeat.
Mr Blair said: “I will feel a sense of a defeat not so much for me, as it were – although obviously that’s true – but for the security of the country.”
