Stephen Williams said "Although there are many parts of this bill that we do support, we find it completely unacceptable that anyone could be held without charge for such a long period of time. The government must learn that you can't fight terrorism by simply introducing ever more draconian legislation. It's time we gave our police and security forces the extra resources and manpower they need.
"The proposal to hold suspects for three months without charge represents a substantial and unacceptable erosion of the principles underlying British justice. The objective of providing powers to hold suspects for periods sufficient to obtain further evidence can best be achieved by a combination of charging with lower order offences within fourteen days, changing guidelines on interview after charge and the use of control orders."
