Downing Street Says » Anti-terror legislation

Asked what the Prime Minister’s current thinking was on the terror legislation in the Lords and whether he was opened minded about the sunset clause the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary were both keen for a clarification on what was being suggested. However in general terms the bottom line remained the same, which was the government believed these powers were what was necessary to meet the needs identified by the police and the security services. Therefore the government remained determined to get that on the statute book. Asked if the only way to get it on the statute book was to have it time limited and whether that would be considered the PMOS said that the question started with if and he did not answer hypothetical questions. The Government believed what it was proposing was necessary and therefore we continued to want to get that on the statute book. Asked if the position was that Government had received the amendments but had not yet had the time to look over them the PMOS said there remained some confusion over whether what was being proposed was just a sunset clause or if it came with other amendments. The Government was trying to clear up the position. Asked if the government had a principled objection to a sunset clause the PMOS said that what we believed was that the powers were what was necessary and they were necessary for not just this week or next but for the foreseeable future. He was not going to comment on particular proposals until it was clear on what was being proposed but that was the basic starting point of where we were coming from. In response to further questions the PMOS said that the government was waiting for further clarification on what it was that was being proposed and as such he could not give a signal on the opposition’s proposal until that clarification had been made.

Asked if the Prime Minister or Home Secretary had asked for them to come in to explain it the PMOS said that the Home Secretary’s position was that these matters were best dealt with through the usual channels rather than through the media spotlight. People should wait to see what emerged. Asked if the review mechanism had been considered as part of how the bill would be considered generally the PMOS said that in terms of review mechanisms it was sensible to review legislation and its impact on a regular basis and the examples of one year and five years in the current anti terror legislation were substantial periods.

Asked how the Prime Minister responded to the accusation that he paid too little attention to parliament and the anti terror legislation was an example of how they had responded too late to cross party concerns the PMOS said that if you actually did an analysis of how many debates the Prime Minister had participated in it was in fact far more than any of his predecessors. In terms of the terrorism bill people did feel strongly about it one way or another but the Prime Minister had set out at PMQs his view that it was necessary. If other parties choose to adopt a different view that was a matter for them.

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» Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Anti-terror legislation

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