Posted on 02/12/2006 11:38:31 AM PST by blam
Britons must 'wake up' to terror risk, says Brown
(Filed: 12/02/2006)
Opponents of tougher anti-terror measures must "wake up" to the scale of the security threat faced by Britain, Gordon Brown has warned.
Mr Brown said ID cards were 'vital'
The Chancellor is set to unveil a raft of new policies tomorrow, but the Government will this week face a tough task in the Commons to save two plans from embarrassing defeat.
Both ID cards and proposals for a new offence of "glorifying terrorism" will be debated this week, measures dubbed "ineffective authoritarianism" by the Tories.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, hit out at attempts to paint critics as "soft" on terror as a "transparent political stunt" and urged Labour MPs to rebel.
But Mr Brown said that people had to understand that the nature of the new threat made measures such as ID cards and the holding of suspects without charge vital.
He said he would like to see the present 28-day detention limit extended back towards the 90-days MPs threw out in Tony Blair's first Commons defeat as Prime Minister.
"The number of leads that are being followed from July 7 is something in the order of 12,000. The investigation for the Ricin episode spanned 26 countries - every continent," he said.
"People have got to wake up to the complexity, the scale, the global nature of this."
He said he believed people would be persuaded "in time" that suspects should be held for longer without charge if the necessary judicial safeguards were in place.
Among measures to be unveiled tomorrow by Mr Brown is a move to centralised funding for anti-terror work - believed to presage the creation of a homeland security department.
the creation of a homeland security department.
Shouldn't that be Department of Empire Security Department?
Trying to call "glorifying terrorism" an offense would be a pretty tough nut to crack, IMHO.
These ridiculous, ill-thought out proposals were already kicked out of Parliament once. What's the point of making an offence of 'gloryfying terrorism' (whatever the hell that means, it almost certainly can't be legally defined in any coherent manner) - we already have sufficient laws in place, yet it took the government seven years after the evidence had been gathered to secure the conviction of Abu Hamza.
Maybe Brown could put his effort into resolving those sorts of issues rather than resorting to cheap political grandstanding in an effort to prove he's the 'hardest' on terrorism.
Well said - what is your position on ID cards?
kind regards
"what is your position on ID cards?"
Well I'm instinctively not enthusiastic generally. I don't know why I need one, I don't know why the government need me to have one. I certainly don't want to shell out wads of money for the 'privelege'!
In terms of being a weapon against terrorism as is being claimed by the government, I just don't buy the argument in the slightest.
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.