MELANIE PHILLIPS: Hard on the heels of last week’s control order fiasco comes the news that the Government is planning to introduce yet another Draconian security measure.
The police may be given the power to interrogate individuals about who they are, where they have been and where they are going. Officers would thus be able to gain information about ‘matters relevant’ to terror investigations. If such people failed to stop or refused to answer questions, they could be charged with a criminal offence and fined up to £5,000.
These powers have been in operation in Northern Ireland. In an ironic twist, at the very moment that they are due to be repealed as part of the ‘normalisation’ procedures of the peace process, the Home Secretary John Reid intends to extend them to mainland Britain. This is because, as Irish terrorism recedes, a new and far more deadly threat has taken its place. Stop and question this policy (more)
Mark Alexander
