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Clarke to reveal anti-terror plan
The home secretary is to press ahead with plans to give himself the power to put terror suspects under house arrest, despite widespread opposition.
Charles Clarke will unveil his proposed control orders, ranging from tagging to house arrest, in a Commons statement.
He will also be outlining the nature of the terror threat Britain is facing.
The Tories accused ministers of trying to "ram" through the plans. The Lib Dems say only judges, not politicians, should be able to impose the orders.
Tagging
Eleven terror suspects are currently detained without trial, many of them at Belmarsh prison in London.
They are being held under anti-terror laws that apply to foreign terror suspects and which are due to expire on 14 March.
The government is proposing the new system of control orders after the law lords last month said the current system of detentions without trial broke human rights laws.
Unlike the detentions without trial, the control orders would apply to UK as well as foreign terror suspects. The control orders could include curfews or restrictions on use of telephones or the internet as well as house arrest and tagging.
Proposed restrictions
Critics say the proposed ability of politicians to deprive UK citizens of their freedom makes it the biggest attack on British civil liberties for 300 years.
They want judges to make the initial decisions, rather than just being able to review them later.
Mr Clarke will publish the Prevention of Terrorism Bill on Tuesday afternoon. MPs will debate the plans on Wednesday and next Monday before the bill goes to the House of Lords.
He says he will also be publishing documents "which indicate very clearly the nature of the terrorist threat which we have to address".
Judicial review
Mr Clarke insists his proposals will clear up uncertainty in the legal system following the law lords judgement.
"I shall say that we need a system of control orders which gives us the ability to control these dangerous terrorists who have the ability to challenge so many fundamentals of our way of life," he told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme. If a person faces losing their liberty, the home secretary's decision should be considered by a High Court judge, said Mr Clarke.
He or she would be able to go over all the home secretary's considerations and even overturn that "judgement in seven days if he or she thought it was the wrong decision".
The judge would also be able to direct the home secretary to "take a difference course".
'Dangerous terrorists'
"It is a very high level of judicial review and then confirmation of what the home secretary does," said Mr Clarke.
The government says the new laws need to be passed quickly because the current detention powers come to an end on 14 March.
Mr Clarke warned that if the plans are defeated in the House of Lords, "there would be no capacity to keep under control in any way... the people who are dangerous terrorists".
Ahead of the debates, the prime minister's official spokesman said: "We recognise some people see these as extreme measures, but
we do need extreme measures to deal with a very small number of people."
But the Tories say ministers are trying to "ram" the bill through Parliament with MPs given just two days to discuss it.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "If it is necessary to do these things - and it is arguable that it is - it needs to be considered very carefully, very deliberately before we meddle with British traditions of freedom and justice."
After talks with Mr Clarke on Monday evening, Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "He has moved considerably in relation to judges' powers.
But unfortunately he has not moved far enough to get judges making decisions on this issue, not the home secretary taking decisions."
Source: BBC News
22 February 2005
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