Lord West caves in on detention without charge

The government was plunged into disarray today over its proposed terror laws as security minister Lord West retracted his statement that he was not "totally convinced" about the need to extend detention of terror suspects for more than 28 days without charge.

The security minister "clarified" his remarks following a pre-planned meeting with Gordon Brown.

In a statement released less than two hours after his comments on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the minister said he was "convinced that we need to legislate now so that we have the necessary powers when we need them".

"I was stating this morning that there will need to be scrutiny in the system, and robust evidence against individuals, to safeguard their rights," he said.

He had earlier told the Today programme: "I want to be totally convinced because I'm not going to go push for something that affects the liberty of the individual unless there's a real necessity for it, and I'm lacking that data at the moment." Link