Tom Griffin (London, OK): After a tellingly one-sided debate, the House of Lords has this evening voted against the extension of detention without charge, by an overwhelming margin of 309 votes to 118.
What remains to be seen now is whether the plans will return to the Commons, as Ministers have publicly maintained, or quietly dropped as much of the media seems to have been briefed.
Update: The 42 days provision is being shelved. Amnesty's Patrick Corrigan reacts:
Disgraceful speech from the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith this evening, as she dropped proposals for 42 days detention without charge, yet announced a new piece of counter-terrorism legislation to contain similar proposals in response to the rout her government had earlier suffered at the hands of the Lords.
As she revealed the outline of the Counter-terrorism 'temporary provisions' Bill, she accused those who opposed 42 days detention of underestimating the terrorist threat and of taking Britain's security lightly. Opposition spokespersons were having none of it in a well-attended and stormy Commons. The SNP's Pete Wishart rightly described her performance as an act of "petulant defiance".
