Ministers are making last-ditch efforts to persuade rebel Labour MPs to back them in the crunch vote over extending the terror detention limit to 42 days.
No 10 says it looks "very close" and a new compensation deal is being offered for suspects held but then not charged. Minister Tony McNulty said that given Labour's recent difficulties it needed the vote "like a hole in the head".
Tory David Davis says opponents have won the argument, even if they do not win the vote due at about 1800 BST.
The Conservatives, Lib Dems and about 30 Labour MPs oppose the 42-day extension.
The result is expected to be so close that it might hinge on how the nine Democratic Unionist Party MPs vote.
Let’s hope the Dupes remember the way to their nation’s parliament, not one of them has been there for more than 50% of the votes; our erstwhile Dear Leader has been there for less than 25% of the sittings this term.
And this, is interesting from Ben Brogan:
If they win the next election, the Tories will study the situation but expect to bring it back to 28 days sharpish. Oh, and the DUP can go whistle. Mr Davis is a man with a long memory and a taste for vengeance.
Update:
It was the Dupes wot won it...
Before the vote, DUP MP Sammy Wilson said the party would do what was best for the security of the United Kingdom.
"This is a security question - we have understood for over 35 years in NI the effect terrorism can have," he said.
If it was simply a security question, why all the faffing about the last couple of days then?
"Duplicitious", "Unprincipled" "Prostitutes" are a few of the more restrained descriptions of the DUP tonight.
10 comments:
Congratulations to the DUP. By helping trample over hard-won English liberties they have just added yet another nail in the coffin of the Union.
With "friends" like this, who needs enemies?
After the Restoration of King Charles all the laws passed by Cromwell's Long Parliament were scrapped as illegitimate.
Perhaps after the Restoration of an independent England we should do the same for all the authoritarian bigotry we've suffered since Devolution, when the Acts of Union were effectively torn up?
Disgusting. Despicable. Pathetic.
This is a new low. I'd go one one hell of a rant, but I already have on my own blog so won't reproduce it here!
Congratulations to the DUP. By helping trample over hard-won English liberties they have just added yet another nail in the coffin of the Union.
Reluctant though I am to provide any kind of justification for the DUP, the position they took was at least consistent with their core philosophy on anti-terrorism- which is basically hang 'em and hang 'em high.
But there are many others within both Labour and Tories who have betrayed their own political conscience on this one (eg only Widdecombe of all the Tories agreed with this measure?) for the the sake of "the party" or whatever bribes Brown has managed to persuade them with.
What is despicable is the fact that the Dupes, the government and others are clearly lying about the bribes (Paisley is rumoured to be getting a peerage ffs!)and also the pretense that this vote was any way decided on conscience, taking into consideration things such as making sure the rights of the suspect were protected as Gregory Campbell has claimed.
With "friends" like this, who needs enemies?
Magna Carta is the foundation stone of the English legal system, sometimes described as the greatest gift England has given the world.
Plenty of English people have fought and died to preserve the liberties of the Unionist community in Northern Ireland.
But it appears that at a time the favour can be returned English Liberties can just be casually sold.
More proof, if any were needed, that I should ignore my residual Unionist sympathies. England is better off independent. How about this for a slogan: "Ourselves, Alone". It's got a ring to it hasn't it?
Plenty of English people have fought and died to preserve the liberties of the Unionist community in Northern Ireland.
And plenty of Northern Irish (and Scottish/Welsh and Irish from the Free State, as it was then) also fought and died to preserve our collective liberties during not only the Troubles but also WW1, WW2and.... plenty of English MPs voted for this measure last night, it was not carried alone on the backs of 9 DUP members.
I don't agree with 42 days, I don't agree with the various backhanders and bribes which have bought this vote, but again, those bribes and backhanders were not restricted to those that label themselves as Unionists from NI. How did your own MP vote for example?
My (Labour) MP voted in favour. She's one of the "Blair's Babes" who always do as they're told. She even publicly castigated Labour rebels who objected to the imposition of tuition fees on students from England only. In other words, just another Quisling.
Fortunately, I am glad to see that David Davis has made a stand. I just wish he had been chosen to lead the Tories rather than that loathesome Blair Mark II "Call me Dave" Cameron.
Magna Carta might not mean that much outside England, but it still has a resonance here.
The difference between the English and the Scots is that when we had trouble with a Norman King we forced him to sign a Charter limiting his powers.
When the Scots had a similar problem some time later they wrote a begging letter to the Pope called "The Declaration of Arbroath".
You can see why they'd be jealous and care nothing for our history. The sooner they're gone the better.
Not just the DUP.
I see the Ulster Unionist MP also voted with the Government.
Sorry, but if Northern Ireland MPs are willing to sell our liberties to the highest bidder then they can't be trusted to have any say over what happens in England and should be thrown out of Westminster.
Sorry, but if Northern Ireland MPs are willing to sell our liberties to the highest bidder then they can't be trusted to have any say over what happens in England and should be thrown out of Westminster.
Considering their diabolical attendance records, I don't think anyone would notice if that were to happen to be honest.
But I'll say it again, it wasn't just the DUP which voted for 42 days and it wasn't just the DUP who were bribed to do so.
It may not have just been the DUP, but it's the DUP who have been singled out.
For example this.
Others have taken a principled stand- see my latest post.
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