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More concessions made on counterterrorism bill

14/10/2008

The government has dropped plans for sensitive coroners' inquests to be held in private.

The move follows the decision to remove controversial proposals to increase the detention without charge limit for terrorist suspects to 42 days.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith confirmed the plans would be included in a separate piece of legislation after the House of Lords overwhelmingly voted to remove the 42-day limit from the counterterrorism bill.

Campaign groups have expressed delight at the development after peers forced the government's hand with a 309 to 118 vote.

Later on Tuesday, the Home Office said it was scrapping plans to bar juries, family members and the public from certain hearings.

The reform was intended to stop sensitive matter of national security being revealed to the public, including phone–tap details.

But there are strong signs the government will attempt to reintroduce the reform in a future bill, probably the coroner and death investigation bill.

The Liberal Democrats welcomed the news.

"The powers that the government wanted would have allowed ministers to remove a case from an independent coroner and put it in hands of a 'special coroner', remove juries from establishing matters of fact in coroners’ courts and hold inquests in secret," said Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne.

"It would have been far too convenient for the government to be able to hide a proper and independent inquiry into cases like the death of Jean Charles de Menezes or Dr David Kelly."

Earlier, Amnesty International UK warned that 42 days was not gone for good, despite Ms Smith's emergency statement to the Commons.

"The government should now drop 42 days once and for all," the human rights organisation's director Kate Allen said. "It is not wanted, it is not needed and it is simply not right to strip people in the UK of their basic rights."

Speaking on Monday evening Ms Smith said a separate bill – the counterterrorism temporary provisions bill – would be introduced "should the worst happen".

"My priority remains the protection of the British people," the home secretary, watched by prime minister Gordon Brown, said.

"I don't believe that it is enough to cross our fingers and hope for the best – that is not good enough.

"There are certain risks I'm not prepared to take

"The prime minister and I have taken action to make sure we have those protections in place ready to be used if necessary.

"A new bill has been prepared to enable the police and prosecutors to do their work should the worst happen; should a terrorist plot overtake us and threaten our current investigatory capabilities.

"Some may take the security of Britain lightly – I don't."

Human rights group Liberty called on the government to accept it had "lost the argument".

"The upper house has demonstrated why Britain is the oldest unbroken democracy on Earth," said Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti.

"Common decency says we don't lock people up for six weeks without charge. Common sense should tell the government that when you're in a hole and you've lost the argument - stop digging."