Government Control orders unravelling

3.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 31st Oct 2007

The Law Lords have today ordered the government to reconsider control orders imposed on eight terrorism suspects, although they did not declare the anti-terrorism measure to be completely unlawful. In rulings on six individuals, the Lords said control orders, which included 18-hour curfews, were too long. The Lords also ordered the courts to rethink two other cases because the proceedings had breached a right to a fair hearing. Under the control order system, the Home Office can impose daily curfews, restrictions on whom a subject can meet and where they are allowed to go. Subjects must also report daily to police and are banned from using mobile phones, email or the internet.

In stopping the very worst excesses of control orders this ruling is enormously welcome. It represents yet a further unravelling of a system which the Liberal Democrats have long said is wrong in principle and flawed in practice. How can it be right to impose what amounts to home detention without giving suspects any evidence for such a measure and then have almost half of those people subject to control orders abscond altogether? That is why the Liberal Democrats were the only party to vote against the renewal of control orders in the House of Commons earlier this year.