Smith in new push to extend terror detention beyond 28-day limit

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has signalled a new move by the Government to give police the power to hold terror suspects without charge beyond the current 28-day limit.

Eighteen months after Tony Blair suffered a humiliating defeat over an attempt to allow 90 days' detention, she said there was now evidence to suggest going beyond the current limit.

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Gordon Brown will reopen the controversy over detention without trial in a Commons statement today on planned new anti-terror legislation. Although ministers insist they want to reach consensus on the issue, Ms Smith made clear the Government was prepared to press ahead with extending the limit if it believed the step was justified on security grounds.

The Tories and Liberal Democrats, backed by civil liberties groups, strongly oppose an increase in the maximum 28-day period. They say it amounts to internment and argue it could backfire by causing resentment in Muslim communities.

But police chiefs and Lord Carlile of Berriew, the independent assessor of terror legislation, have called for an extension in the limit. Ms Smith laughed off the suggestion that they were softening up opinion on her behalf, but told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that it was legitimate to return to the subject in the light of recent developments, such as the alleged attempted suicide bombings in London and Glasgow.

She said extremist plots were becoming more complex and increasingly had an international dimension. The Home Secretary also said the security services were now aware of 2,000 terror suspects in the UK, an increase of 400 in just eight months.

"This all gives us a strong view that the time is right to reconsider whether we should allow longer than 28 days for pre-charge detention," she said.

She told MPs about six terror suspects who were questioned for 27 or 28 days in recent investigations, three of whom were eventually charged. "There is already evidence of us stepping up to the point of 28 days," the Home Secretary told the Commons committee. "All of this creates what I would argue is a trend of analysis towards a position where it is legitimate for us to consider again the case for going beyond the current situation of the maximum 28 days."

Her comments were in contrast to comments by her predecessor, John Reid, who said he had not seen evidence from police that showed it was necessary to extend the limit.

Home Office ministers are scarred by the memory of Mr Blair's doomed attempt to extend pre-charge detention from 14 days to 90, leading to the compromise of the 28-day limit. It is already the longest maximum period of detention without charge in western Europe. The Home Office willpublish a paper today setting out a number of proposals to increase the limit. Although it will not back any particular solution, Ms Smith's comments made clear that the Government is preparing to resurrect the controversial issue.

Mr Brown will confirm that the Government will publish a counterterrorism Bill in the autumn. It will include plans to allow questioning of terrorist suspects after they are charged and to make terrorism an aggravating factor in sentencing for "lesser" offences, such as fraud.

David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, accused Ms Smith of a " distraction from the real and vital work we should be doing to maintain and protect our security". He added: "All the evidence so far is that 28 days is enough."

* Gordon Brown has pledged to get "tougher" on law and order issues by deporting 4,000 foreign criminals by the end of the year. Mr Brown told The Sun: "We are going to take a far tougher line. I want a message to go out ­ if you come here you work and you learn our language. If you commit a crime you will be deported. You play by the rules or you face the consequences."