Rolled-up Trousers: Don't believe them

The government's latest wheeze is to seem to offer compromise on extension to detention without trial. The floated ideas (later denied) are:

detention beyond 28 days could only be triggered in certain prescribed circumstances
it would require the specific prior authorisation of the home secretary
in addition it would require judicial approval every 7 days beyond the original 28
the home secretary would have to notify Parliament and then report back to them after the end of the extended detention
the power would be time limited - lasting not years but perhaps just weeks or months

If these do turn out to be the government's position, it should be distrusted and rejected by all. Currently 28 days is meant to be subject to judicial review, but there's no doubt in anyone's mind that we have 28 days detention in this country such is the formality it's seen as. The control order legislation was wearily passed through Parliament in 2005 after a promised 'sunset clause' after 12 months, but it was waved through without a whimper after the time limit elapsed. Please, let's not get conned again.

These leaked concessions come after the government seized upon the suggestion by Liberty and others that an extra 30 days detention already exists under law if the government declared a state of emergency. These new proposals are designed to allow the government to take advantage of the additional 30 days without taking the drastic step of declaring an emergency like General Musharraf. Instead, the Home Secretary would just have to say, and then it would be.