About us
See other news storiesNew powers to prevent terrorism
24 January 2008
Tough new measures to protect the public from terrorism were introduced in Parliament today, as the Home Office published the Counter-terrorism Bill 2008.
The new counter-terrorism bill is designed to address the constantly changing threat posed to the UK by the violent extremists.
The bill includes proposals to:
- increase the time terrorism suspects can be held (in exceptional circumstances) before they are charged
- enable post-charge questioning of terrorist suspects
- enhance sentences for offences tied in to terrorist plots
- strengthen monitoring of convicted terrorists
- expand the use of DNA in terrorism investigations
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the government's top priority in introducing this bill is to protect law-abiding citizens.
'We are facing an unprecedented threat from terrorism in this country, and we are determined to take whatever action is necessary to protect the public from future attacks,' she said.
Facing a serious threat
In an interview, she told the BBC there is 'a consensus that we face a serious threat from terrorism.
'It's growing in scale. It's becoming more complicated in nature. People need to intervene earlier because of the way in which it aims to cause mass casualties with no warning.'
She pointed out that the counter-terrorism bill contains a broad range of measures to ensure that police and security agencies have the tools they need to prevent acts of terrorism from ever taking place.
While the bill's proposal to extend the legal amount of time for which terrorism suspects can be held before they are charged is quite controversial, the Home Secretary said the cases in which that provision would be used would be very rare.
The bill is designed to strengthen prosecutions of terrorists in criminal courts, and to improve the way terrorist suspects are dealt with after they've been charged.
Counter-terrorism funding at record levels
The government has backed up its counter-terrorism effort by allocating record levels of funding for local police forces.
In 2007 the police received £472 million for counter-terrorism work. In October an additional £695 million was allocated. That funding will increase further over this year and next year.
The police service is now working closely with the Home Office to ensure that this money is used intelligently and effectively.
In addition, £45m has been budgeted for local authorities to spend over the next three years on programmes to counter violent extremism.
The government has sought the views of the public and human rights organisations throughout the process of drafting the Counter-terrorism Bill introduced this week.
The Home Secretary said, 'We have listened to the concerns of community groups and others, and the proposals brought forward today aim to strike the right balance between the need to protect human rights and ensuring police have the powers they need, when they need them, to tackle terrorism.'
Read the bill
Download the full text of the Counter-terrorism bill on Parliament's website. (new window)
