42 days may be illegal - Brown turns a blind eye

Seems strange that only the Scotsman has picked this up, but apparently MP's have ruled that the law changes proposed to the detention rules to extend them from 28 to 42 days may be illegal as they don't comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.

This is not the first time that a proposed new law has faced this problem but it does seem to be something that Labour keeps falling foul of.

The report says the longer period could be triggered too easily, noting that under the Convention this should happen only when there was a

"public emergency threatening the life of the nation".

There was no new judicial protection preventing suspects from arbitrary detention, and the government had failed to provide evidence that the terror threat was growing.

Andrew Dismore MP, the committee chairman, said:

"The proposed extension to 42 days would almost certainly not be lawful."

What this means to the Prime Minister is that even if he does manage to get these laws through the Common he may still face attacks on them from two other places as it is highly likely that the House of Lords will reject the changes as well.

What I don't understand is why the Prime Minister is fighting this fight. It does nothing for him. It does not show him being a man of "courage" or "strong" all it shows is an obstinate fool who can't take advice from others.

The Prime Minister just not have the courage to admit when he is wrong as we have seen on a number of occasions. This is a deeply worrying trait in a man who could be in charge of the country for a further two year. I worry that when the Tories do get elected to govern that this country will be in an almighty mess because of the rule of this deeply flawed supposed Leader.

John Kampfner writing in the Guardian puts it nicely

For all Brown's more emollient style, the end result will be the same. Britain will continue its sleepwalk to becoming one of the most policed, bugged, watched and imprisoned "democratic" nations on earth.

What is most tragic is that I have seen no evidence from people close to Brown that he actually believes any of this. He has been sucked into this position by fear, by his habit of media triangulation. Instead of standing up for what he believes to be right, he seeks to second-guess one or two influential media barons. In that respect he is indistinguishable from Blair, except that Blair's personal hubris gave him more leeway. Politicians who lack moral courage are rarely rewarded. Forget the policy; this is stupid politics.

MPs rule terror law changes are illegal - Scotsman.com News