News In Focus
3 July 2007
90-day detention not needed, says First Minister
The First Minister has said that the failed car bomb attacks of the past few days should not be used to justify changing the law so that terror suspects could be detained without charge for up to 90 days.
The UK Government has previously failed in an attempt to get such a measure through Westminster, the power being confined to 28 days, but calls for a longer permitted period have been renewed in the wake of the attacks.
Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said the SNP had not been persuaded that such action would be necessary after a burning jeep drove into Glasgow airport's terminal 1 building on Saturday afternoon. The attack was linked to two similar incidents in London when cars were found packed full of explosives.
However, in the wake of the attack, all police forces in Scotland as well as those in England & Wales have been given the right to stop and search any person or any vehicle and its passengers, as well as any items carried by the vehicle or its passengers.
The Home Office conferred the powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 following Saturday's incidents.
The President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, Chief Constable Colin McKerracher, said that police officers would be carrying out searches with due regard to community concerns, reflecting a statement to the House of Commons by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.