Emergency powers to forcibly relocate terror suspects without consent are being planned by the Government in new emergency legislation, just months after it pledged to scrap the existing measure.

In January, home secretary Theresa May went to the House of Commons to announce the results of the counter terrorism review which was one of the main commitments of the coalition government. The headline announcement was the proposal to scrap the controversial control order regime. Control orders were to be replaced by “a new package of measures that is better focused and has more targeted restrictions,” to be known officially as Read the full story

Yesterday Home Secretary Theresa May told Parliament that a rapid review of key counter-terrorism and security powers is underway. The review, a commitment in the coalition agreement, published on 20 May 2010, will look at what counter-terrorism powers and measures could be rolled back in order to restore the balance of civil liberties and counter-terrorism powers Read the full story

Home Secretary Theresa May told Parliament yesterday that the government will change how stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act are used, with immediate effect.

The move is in response to a decision by the Read the full story

The blog posted on 23 June 2009 concerned the annual report by Lord Carlile, the government’s official anti-terror law watchdog, about the use of s.44 Terrorism Act 2000, which grants police the power to stop and search anyone in a designated area without suspicion that an offence has occurred. He found that Read the full story

“Examples of poor or unnecessary use of section 44 [Terrorism Act 2000] abound. I have evidence of cases where the person stopped is so obviously far from any known terrorism profile that, realistically, there is not the slightest possibility of him/her being a terrorist… Read the full story