Tories warn on terror detentions

Control orders are part of the anti-terrorism effort

The 28-day limit on detaining terror suspects before they are charged should be extended only if there is "credible evidence" to do so, the Tories say.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has said he "completely" agrees with police calls for longer detention periods.

But shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve accused ministers of a "knee-jerk" reaction to warnings of an increased terror threat.

It was time for a "rational debate" on the issue, he told the BBC.

Mr Grieve said: "If there is credible evidence that an extension is needed, we will consider that pragmatically."

'Government lies'

But every increase to the time limit "subtly" undermined British principles, he added.

Last year, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats and Labour rebels defeated government plans to extend the period to 90 days - Prime Minister Tony Blair's first Commons loss.

A compromise was eventually agreed to extend it to 28 days, doubling it from the previous 14 days.

Mr Grieve said: "One of the difficulties we have is that we have a government that tells lies.

"It has done it pretty serially over the last few years and so trust breaks down and, as they are concerned more with presentation than with substance, it is always incredibly difficult to have a rational debate with them about what is actually needed."

Shadow home secretary David Davis told the BBC that "arguments [in favour of a 90-day limit] I have seen so far both in public and in secret are worse than not great. They are dreadful."

'Scale of threat'

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said on Saturday that he believed an extension would have to be "examined again in the near future" in light of warnings of the growing terror threat.

And Gordon Brown told the Sunday Times: "I completely agree with him.

"Given the scale of the threat we face, we must give the security service and police not just the resources they need but the powers they need to gather securely the evidence and use that evidence to gain convictions."

Sir Ian has called for the issue to be re-examined

The chancellor declared protecting the country from terrorism would be his "first priority" as prime minister and dismissed Tory calls for a dedicated Cabinet security minister.

It was up to the prime minister "to take the lead" on the issue, he said.

However, Mr Davis said neither the prime minister nor the home secretary had the time to take on the terror threat.

A statement from the Home Office said there would be no apology for "tough new laws" but engagement with Muslim communities would continue.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said the government had to take account of the views of police authorities on the detention time limit for terror suspects.

MI5 chief Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller has said the security service knows of 30 terror plots threatening the UK and is keeping 1,600 individuals under surveillance.

British al-Qaeda plotter Dhiren Barot was sentenced to life in prison last week and told he must serve at least 40 years in jail.

A court heard the 34-year-old, from London, had planned to kill thousands of people in the UK and US.