Downing Street Says » London Bombings

Asked if the Prime Minister had any reaction to police activity in West Yorkshire, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that this was clearly a police operational matter. Journalists could take it that the Prime Minister and other Ministers would be kept informed. We said yesterday that we would give the police and the authorities the time and space they needed to carry out this investigation. We were determined to do so. Therefore it would be a matte led by them, carried out by them and we would be kept informed. We would follow the right and proper procedure throughout.

Asked about the US armed forces’ advice to their personnel in the UK that they should stay away from London, the PMOS said that as he understood it, this had been a temporary response along with other organisations to last Thursday’s events. This was obviously a matter for the US embassy but he understood that with regards to the US Navy personnel the order had lapsed and that would also be the case for air personnel by the end of the day. Asked what sort of message it sent, the PMOS said that the important thing was that the US embassy’s advice to US citizens in London had been that they should go about their business as normal, taking the usual precautions.

Asked whether the UK would take any action to increase EU anti-terror measures during its presidency, the PMOS said that the UK would make proposals in terms of practical measures such as sharing data and information, which allowed us to more effectively track terrorist movements. Obviously there were issues to do with the traditions of different countries, but the important thing was to co-ordinate our activities where necessary.

Asked about what action the Government was taking in terms of domestic anti-terror legislation, the PMOS said that it would be useful to go over the history of this issue. It was important that people recognised the measures that we had already taken. If you looked at the Terrorism Act 2000 for instance, that had allowed us to seize terrorist money at borders and created specific offences of inciting terrorist acts and training for terrorist purposes. The Act had widened the definition of terrorism, recognising that it might have a religious or ideological, as well as a political motivation. Post 9/11 we had introduced the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 which again had allowed us to take action specifically on matters such as aviation security and part of 4 of which had allowed us to certify and detain foreign nationals who were suspected of involvement in international terrorism. That had come up against the issue of the House of Lords and that had led to control orders and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. However in the Government’s manifesto, we said that we would bring back further counter-terrorist legislation this autumn. While no final decision had been taken about the contents we indicated that we would be moving against those who were preparing acts of terrorism or encouraging others to carry out acts of terrorism. Those were two areas in which we had been looking to take further action. The important thing, as we had said yesterday, was that we allowed this investigation to continue. We should draw from that any lessons in terms of legislation and only then decide whether we proceeded along the original timetable or speeded that up in some way. Those decisions had not yet been taken,but as we indicated yesterday at the moment we were minded to continue along the initial path. We would review matters as we progressed. It was still very early days following these attacks. Asked about the parliamentary timetable given that it was almost summer recess, the PMOS said that was the position as it stood at the moment. The Prime Minister had said yesterday that we would review the situation as we went along, and we would. This was a matter of assessing what the need was and then doing what was necessary. It was not the other way round. Whatever action was recommended to us we would take very seriously. The police and the authorities’ primary focus at the moment was on carrying out the investigation and trying to find out who was responsible for the attacks.

4 Comments »

All well and good and I’m sure we’ll all sleep better in our beds at night – if it weren’t for the fact that legislation is never going to be a great help at combatting suicide bombers. But of course, didn’t we all expect this? Knee-jerk legislation; surely the very thing we need to avoid?!
Comment by PapaLazzzaru — 13 Jul 2005 on 2:28 am | Link
Oh, I’m sure this current scenario is just the ticket for opening hitherto closed doors towards the rushing through of biometric ID cards etc etc.. just this once, I could even believe in some sort of (whisper) CONSPIRACY… Shurely not…
Comment by auntyq — 13 Jul 2005 on 6:04 pm | Link
Oh, I’m sure this current scenario is just the ticket for opening hitherto closed doors towards the rushing through of biometric ID cards etc etc.. just this once, I could even believe in some sort of (whisper) CONSPIRACY… Shurely not…
Comment by auntyq — 13 Jul 2005 on 6:06 pm | Link
What the heck is he wibbling about? Part 4 of the Antiterrorism Act 2001 was ruled unconstitutional by the Law Lords when it was applied — the House of Lords had passed it.

That section was voted in Parliament in:
<a href="http://publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2001-11-21&number=77">http://publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2001-11-21&number=77</a>

What they were doing was banging up foreigners, ostensibly prior to deportation, for years without charge, trial, legal representation, or evidence on the word of the Home Secretary. And this is what they called "Upholding British Values"!
Comment by Julian Todd — 13 Jul 2005 on 11:07 pm | Link

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» Monday, July 11, 2005

London Bombings

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