Charles Kennedy

Liberal Democrats | Ross Skye & Lochaber

Charles Kennedy: Prime Minister Should Accept He Is Wrong On 90 Days

Responding to the Prime Minister’s insistence that the case for a 90 day detention period without trial is ‘compelling’, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said:

‘The Prime Minister cannot even persuade his own backbenchers that a 90 day detention period without charge is the best way to deal with the terrorist threat. He admits he doesn’t have enough votes to get this legislation through.

'His immediate predecessor as Prime Minister, Sir John Major, and his own Attorney General are among those who oppose, publicly or privately, these illiberal measures.  

'The Liberal Democrats agree there are loopholes in the law which should be plugged by fresh legislation – which the new offence of acts preparatory to terrorism, for example, is designed to address.  But the Prime Minister’s intransigence over the issue of 90 days threatens these good measures, because, once again, he cannot accept that he is wrong.’