Terrorism Bill passes into Law as Conservatives give in

4.00.00pm GMT Thu 23rd Mar 2006

The Government has finally won its battle of wills with the House of Lords over proposals to outlaw the "glorification" of terrorism. In the sixth round of parliamentary "ping pong", peers yesterday rejected a Liberal Democrat amendment and accepted the government plans. Conservative spokesman Lord Kingsland asked Tory backbenchers to abstain this time because otherwise, he argued, the Government would use the Parliament Act to push through the Terrorism Bill, which would cause a nine month delay. Peers voted against a Liberal Democrat amendment to the bill omitting any reference to glorification by 172 votes to 60, majority 112. The bill will now become law.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat spokesperson said "We always supported key aspects of the Bill, such as the new offence of crimes preparatory to terrorism, so to that extent we are pleased that it has reached the statute book. But we remain concerned about the loose wording that will make the law less precise and potentially open to inappropriate or excessive use because of the Government's stubborn insistence on the term 'glorification'. We now hope that the police and the courts will use this bit of the law with great care."