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| Britain |
| Gordon Brown to unveil new anti-terror measures |
| 2007-06-04 |
| Britain’s incoming leader Gordon Brown plans to unveil several new anti-terrorism measures when he replaces Prime Minister Tony Blair later this month, three British newspapers reported on Sunday. The Sunday Times and The Observer both carried detailed outlines of proposals that they claim Brown will make public this week. In 2005, British lawmakers rejected the government’s bid to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days, forcing it to accept a compromise of 28 days, but according to the papers, Brown is trying to revive the proposals. He also plans to grant judges greater powers to punish terrorism by making it an aggravating factor in sentencing, and will call for a review of laws banning the use of phone-tap evidence in court. This goes contrary to the wishes of security services, which say using intercept intelligence as evidence could give terrorists an insight into their methods. Brown plans to propose an increase in the security budget in the forthcoming spending review as well, when a single security budget will be unveiled. The Sunday Telegraph said Brown would promise to give courts and Parliament “greater oversight” over his proposed counter-terror measures following clashes between government and opposition groups including the judiciary and civil liberty groups. He said, “Because we believe in the civil liberties of the individual, we must also strengthen accountability to parliament and independent bodies overseeing the police, not subjecting people to arbitrary treatment. The world has changed, so we need tougher security. We must recognise there is a group of people we must isolate who are determined to attack. Our security must be strengthened, but we must also strengthen the accountability of our institutions.” |
| Posted by:Fred |