Brown’s terror plans court backlash

Gordon Brown is heading for a clash with Labour backbenchers and opposition parties over plans to allow the police to detain terror suspects for longer than 28 days without charge.

The prime minister in waiting is also likely to face stiff resistance from the intelligence agencies to his proposal to allow intercept evidence to be used in court. Other measures include powers to let the police question suspects after they have been charged and for terrorism to be made an aggravating factor in questioning.

Mr Brown sought to balance his tough stance on terror with an appeal for more urgent efforts to win over the Muslim community and “isolate those people who are preaching extremist ideas and calling for people to support violence”.

As human rights campaigners said the detention powers amounted to “internment”, the chancellor also promised stronger judicial safeguards and extra scrutiny powers for parliament over the new measures.

He told a Labour leadership hustings in Newcastle on Sunday that “at no point will our British traditions of supporting and defending civil liberties be put at risk”.

His allies said Mr Brown would seek to make the case for the measures rather than force them through and would not, for example, stipulate now that pre-charge detention should be 90 days.

The chancellor called for a cross-party review to examine the case for making phone tap and e-mail intercept evidence admissible in prosecutions and is said by allies to be open-minded.

MI5, the Security Service, MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, and GCHQ say the measure would jeopardise sources and techniques and divert resources from counter-terror operations. The services had convinced Tony Blair and John Reid, home secretary, of their case.

The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and many Labour backbenchers support the use of intercept evidence. But they are strongly against an extension of pre-charge detention after previous government efforts to extend it to 90 days in 2005 were defeated in the Commons.

But the chancellor was warned he risked losing cross-party support for any of the measures after trailing the details in the Sunday newspapers for maximum political effect.

Mr Reid was planning to unveil the measures to parliament on Thursday but was annoyed to see them on the front pages with the chancellor’s name attached. However, the outgoing home secretary is said to be keen to avoid a row with Mr Brown during the final weeks of his ministerial career.

The Conservatives accused Mr Brown of “grandstanding” by releasing details of the anti-terror package in advance.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: “It is extraordinary that the chancellor has chosen to publicise these proposals five days before the home secretary announces his counter-terrorism plans in parliament.

“It does not augur well for cross-party attempts to build a consensus for counter- terrorism measures which the whole country needs to get behind.”