Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008
Encyclopedia
The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (c 28) is an Act
of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom
which increased police powers for the stated purpose of countering terrorism. The first reading of the bill was held in January 2008, and it received royal assent
on 26 November 2008 following an episode of Parliamentary ping-pong
on some of its most controversial issues.
Any person found guilty faces 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. It is a defence for a person charged with this offence to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for their action (for example, a newspaper feature on police brutality
or corruption
).
There are exemptions for communications service provider
s, web cache
s and web hosting service
s.
Journalists who feared that this law would be abused by the police to threaten the taking of photographs of their activities staged a mass protest outside Scotland Yard
in February 2009. Gordon Brown reaffirmed that the police have a legal right to restrict photography in public places, and stated "the law applies to photographers as it does to anybody else in a public place". The act however does not lay out restrictions for the photography of Community Support Officers as they do not hold the office of Constable
.
The Parliamentary debate on this law was limited becausein earlier versions of the Bill the offence of eliciting or publishing information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" only applied to people who were or had been members of Her Majesty’s Forces, and not to the police. This was also the case throughout the debate in the Standing Committee.
(An opposition amendment changing the phrase "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" with the words "with the intention that it is useful..." was withdrawn after the Minister explained that the clause merely restated earlier laws applying to the armed forces on which there was already case law that made it more reasonable than it appeared.)
The law against eliciting or publishing information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" was extended to encompass police constables in a raft of unscrutinized amendments that passed into the Bill at the end of the debate when the Parliamentary timetable (which had been voted on earlier in the day) expired.
When this clause was scrutinized in the House of Lords, and in all subsequent debates, no reference was made to the extension of the law to include police constables.
A Parliamentary written question about the policy regarding police preventing members of the public from taking photographs in public places hasn't been answered. But the Home Office issued a circular to the police in 2009 which reminds them that 'Legitimate journalistic activity (such as covering a demonstration for a newspaper) is likely to constitute such an excuse. Similarly an innocent tourist or other sight-seer taking a photograph of a police officer is likely to have a reasonable excuse.'
The crunch vote on the issue occurred on 11 June 2008 with a 36 Labour MP rebellion that would have defeated the government had the Democratic Unionist Party
block, who normally vote with the Conservative Party, not voted for it. Allegations of a political bribe for these votes were denied.
The day after the vote, the Conservative front bench Home Affairs spokesman, David Davis
suddenly resigned from Parliament in protest and won re-election to his seat in by-election in which none of the other main parties stood a candidate.
On 13 October 2008 this measure was dropped from the Bill by a vote in the House of Lords.
Rather than reverse this defeat with another difficult vote in the House of Commons, the Government drafted a Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Bill that would stand "ready to be introduced if and when the need arises."
These measures, however, reappeared in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
.
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
which increased police powers for the stated purpose of countering terrorism. The first reading of the bill was held in January 2008, and it received royal assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 26 November 2008 following an episode of Parliamentary ping-pong
Parliamentary ping-pong
Parliamentary ping-pong is a phrase used to describe a phenomenon in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in which legislation appears to rapidly bounce back and forth between the two chambers like a ping-pong ball bounces between the players in a game of table tennis.- Procedure :The British...
on some of its most controversial issues.
Provisions of the Act
The Act as passed contains various notable provisions:- Removal of the prohibition on post-charge questioning.
- Longer terrorism sentences.
- A register and monitoring for those convicted of terrorism related offences, similar to the Violent and Sex Offender RegisterViolent and Sex Offender RegisterIn the United Kingdom, the Violent and Sex Offender Register is a database of records of those required to register with the Police under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, those jailed for more than 12 months for violent offences, and unconvicted people simply thought to be at risk of offending...
. - Changes to some of the rules surrounding the use of "intercept evidence".
- Powers to seize the assets of convicted terrorists.
- Police will be able to remove documents from a property search to decide whether or not they need to be legally seized as part of an investigation.
- Greater use of DNA samples, and powers to allow the police to take fingerprints or DNA from those subject to a control order (these orders are civil restraints, not criminal offences).
Photographs of police officers in public places
Section 76 (Offences relating to information about members of armed forces etc.) came into force on 15 February 2009 making it an offence to elicit, attempt to elicit, or publish information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" about:- a member of Her Majesty's Armed Forces,
- a constableConstableA constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
, - the Security ServiceMI5The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, - the Secret Intelligence ServiceSecret Intelligence ServiceThe Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
, or - Government Communications HeadquartersGovernment Communications HeadquartersThe Government Communications Headquarters is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces...
.
Any person found guilty faces 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. It is a defence for a person charged with this offence to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for their action (for example, a newspaper feature on police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
or corruption
Police corruption
Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest....
).
There are exemptions for communications service provider
Communications Service Provider
A communications service provider or CSP is a service provider that transports information electronically. The term encompasses public and private companies in the telecom , Internet, cable, satellite, and managed services businesses.The market in which a communication service provider specializes...
s, web cache
Web cache
A web cache is a mechanism for the temporary storage of web documents, such as HTML pages and images, to reduce bandwidth usage, server load, and perceived lag...
s and web hosting service
Web hosting service
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...
s.
Journalists who feared that this law would be abused by the police to threaten the taking of photographs of their activities staged a mass protest outside Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
in February 2009. Gordon Brown reaffirmed that the police have a legal right to restrict photography in public places, and stated "the law applies to photographers as it does to anybody else in a public place". The act however does not lay out restrictions for the photography of Community Support Officers as they do not hold the office of Constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
.
The Parliamentary debate on this law was limited becausein earlier versions of the Bill the offence of eliciting or publishing information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" only applied to people who were or had been members of Her Majesty’s Forces, and not to the police. This was also the case throughout the debate in the Standing Committee.
(An opposition amendment changing the phrase "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" with the words "with the intention that it is useful..." was withdrawn after the Minister explained that the clause merely restated earlier laws applying to the armed forces on which there was already case law that made it more reasonable than it appeared.)
The law against eliciting or publishing information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" was extended to encompass police constables in a raft of unscrutinized amendments that passed into the Bill at the end of the debate when the Parliamentary timetable (which had been voted on earlier in the day) expired.
When this clause was scrutinized in the House of Lords, and in all subsequent debates, no reference was made to the extension of the law to include police constables.
A Parliamentary written question about the policy regarding police preventing members of the public from taking photographs in public places hasn't been answered. But the Home Office issued a circular to the police in 2009 which reminds them that 'Legitimate journalistic activity (such as covering a demonstration for a newspaper) is likely to constitute such an excuse. Similarly an innocent tourist or other sight-seer taking a photograph of a police officer is likely to have a reasonable excuse.'
Post-charge questioning
A number of measures were linked to the debate about extending the detention period for those arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. One of them was the introduction of questioning after charge under ss. 22 to 27. Such questioning was already exceptionally allowed under PACE Code C para.16 in order: to prevent or minimise harm or loss to some other person, or the public; to clear up an ambiguity in a previous answer or statement; in the interests of justice for the detainee to have put to them, and have an opportunity to comment on, information concerning the offence which has come to light since they were charged or informed they might be prosecuted. But post-charge questioning rarely happens in practice. However, in order to give the police and prosecutors confidence that they do not have to wait until the end of the detention period to make a charge, the 2008 Act allows them to resume questioning after charge. This idea may be especially important if a charge is made under the Threshold Test under the Code for Crown Prosecutors, 2010, para.5. These measures are not likely to have much impact since they involve dire problems of admissibility, given the circumstances of a pending trial which is meant to be controlled by a judge rather than the police. More likely, the police will seek adverse inferences from silence rather than responses to lengthy questioning.42 day terrorist detention without charge
The highest profile provision in the Counter-Terrorism Bill was a measure to allow terrorist suspects to be detained by police for up to 42 days before being charged (formally told what law they were accused of breaking). This was a re-run of 90-day terrorist detention without charge debate that occurred in 2006 that was narrowly lost by a vote in Parliament.The crunch vote on the issue occurred on 11 June 2008 with a 36 Labour MP rebellion that would have defeated the government had the Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
block, who normally vote with the Conservative Party, not voted for it. Allegations of a political bribe for these votes were denied.
The day after the vote, the Conservative front bench Home Affairs spokesman, David Davis
David Davis (British politician)
David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
suddenly resigned from Parliament in protest and won re-election to his seat in by-election in which none of the other main parties stood a candidate.
On 13 October 2008 this measure was dropped from the Bill by a vote in the House of Lords.
Rather than reverse this defeat with another difficult vote in the House of Commons, the Government drafted a Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Bill that would stand "ready to be introduced if and when the need arises."
Secret coroner's inquests
A provision in the Bill to give the Government powers to certify that a coroner's inquest should be held in secret without a jury in the interests of national security or foreign relations raised enough opposition outside of Parliament that the measure was also dropped.These measures, however, reappeared in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
Coroners and Justice Act 2009
-External links:*, as amended from the National Archives.*, as originally enacted from the National Archives.* to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009....
.
External links
- The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, as amended from the National Archives.
- The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, as originally enacted from the National Archives.
- Explanatory notes to the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008.
- Counter-Terrorism Bill 2007-08 at the Home Office website
- The progress of the bill at the UK Parliament website