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42-day terror plans 'to be reshaped again'

06/10/2008

Gordon Brown may be about to back down on efforts to secure 42-day detention for terrorist suspects, reports suggest.

Reports are circulating that the government is unwilling to use the Parliament Act to force the bill past the Lords, who are sure to vote against it.

Without the use of the Parliament Act to overrule the Lords, the bill will definitely fail.

The climbdown follows desperate attempts to get the legislation through the Commons, a feat Mr Brown only accomplished by introducing a raft of concessions and, controversially, with the help of DUP MPs.

In an interview with the Times today, the former assistant commissioner for special operations at Scotland Yard, Andy Hayman, gave a clear indication of discomfort at the bill among senior police officers.

"It would have been my job to make these proposals work, but just trying to understand them gives me a headache," he said.

"The draftsman's pen has introduced so many hoops to be jumped through that a police case for detaining a terror suspect will become part of the political game."

In a separate development, aides to London mayor Boris Johnson have been forced to deny reports he will block the appointment of potential police commissioners who supported the plans.