At the beginning of December, the UK Parliament debated the latest depressing chapter in Britain's ill-fated “war on terror.” The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill is full of the kind of unsafe, unfair policies that the coalition government appeared to reject when it reduced pre-charge detention, curtailed powers to stop and search without suspicion and tempered aspects of the draconian control order regime.

But, in a devastating U-turn, this bill proposes a package of ill-targeted, exceptional measures including:

• Passport seizure and retention powers that are ripe for discrimination and will divert attention from powers of arrest;
• A regime of exclusion orders that risks exposing British citizens to torture or delivering them into the hands of terror factions;
• A provision that seeks to breathe new life into a widely discredited Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measure (TPIMs) regime, which has consistently failed to tackle serious criminality through a system of civil restrictions;
• New data retention powers that mirror the blanket powers sought under the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), rejected by the European Court of Justice;
• A provision for the home secretary to refuse authority to travel to whole categories of passenger on grounds as crude as nationality;
• Statutory terrorism prevention duties for a whole range of public bodies, embroiling professionals such as teachers in counter-terror policing, risking mistrust and alienation;
• A provision that will remove the requirement for a warrant for the interception of all post sent from, and received in, the UK.

Senior members of the House of Commons from all parties were outspoken in their concerns, particularly on chilling proposals to exclude British nationals from the country by executive fiat. The former Conservative attorney general, Dominic Grieve QC, reminded the House:

"It is a fundamental principle of the common law in this country that an individual, unconvicted – the presumption of innocence applies – should be free to reside in his own land. The principle of exile, as a judicial or even an administrative tool, has not been tolerated in this country since the late 17th century."

Medieval exile

The link to crude, medieval exile was taken up by former Shadow Home Office Minister Chris Bryant. He told the House that exclusion orders "would, in effect, result in the exile – albeit short-term and temporary – of British citizens, in many cases to other countries. All history suggests that such action further radicalizes people and makes them more dangerous enemies to this country."

Sir Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and member of the Intelligence and Security Committee, made short work of the Temporary Exclusion Order (TEO) scheme in a principled and passionate speech: “If the right to return is a matter of principle, it can neither be capable of modification nor subject to conditionality… I respectfully say that if the principle is as inviolate as has been suggested, any such intervention must be contrary to law and practice.”

Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart confronted the government on a demoralizing return to the form of its predecessor: “They are almost right back to where the Labour government was in supporting the creation and maintenance of an anti-civil libertarian state.”

Problems at home and abroad

Presented with a bill that is low on vision and short on ambition, many MPs urged colleagues to remember the broader context. If this is a battle for hearts and minds, let’s address the fact that we have accepted just 90 refugees from the bloody Syrian civil war; the fact that the UN World Food Project will be forced to suspend its food voucher program for Syrian refugees facing starvation due to a funding crisis. At home, let’s reflect on plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and threats to withdraw this country from the system that gives voice to the post-World War II consensus demanding the protection of basic rights and freedoms.

Perhaps the most salutary message came from the recipient of Liberty’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC: “We will not stop terrorism or prevent young people from going to participate in terrorism, by whatever methods of law we pass in this House, however draconian they might be; we will stop this phenomenon when we can persuade people that the virtues of our society, which are many, despite some of its drawbacks, are very considerable and that its values should be respected.”

Read Liberty's second reading briefing on the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill.