As the Home Affairs Committee concluded in its First Report of Session 2007-08, "the terrorist threat facing the UK is real and acute. Therefore any request made by the police authorities to extend the maximum period for which terrorist suspects can be held without charge has to be treated with great seriousness."

When it comes to the threat we face from terrorism, we cannot simply hope for the best. We must be in a position where we are prepared for the worst.

A lot has been said about this extension being an attack on Civil Liberties and I agree that in principle it is always wrong to lock people up without a very good reason and in all other circumstances 48 hours or exceptionally 7 days is the longest that one can hold a suspect without charge. However, in the case of terrorism offences that was agreed to be too short hence the detention limit for terrorist suspects was increased to 28 days in 2006.

Some of the opposition expressed in the run up to this vote, notably by the Tories, is opposition for oppositions sake. They have been trying to trip up the Government, playing politics basically, with the safety of the British people and I find that totally disgraceful.

The truth is, as emphasised by the Home Affairs Committee, Police and Security Services, that we face a serious and sustained threat from terrorism – The increasing complexity of terror plots means that investigators may reach a point where they need to hold terrorist suspects for longer than 28 days to gather evidence and build a case.

What we will now put in place is not a permanent, automatic or immediate extension to pre-charge detention beyond 28 days. Instead, we are creating a reserve power that could only be used in very exceptional circumstances, only with the support of the Director of Public Prosecutions, only with the backing of Parliament in a vote in both Houses, only subject to high judicial safeguards, and only for a temporary period before automatically lapsing. The Courts will supervise every stage of the process to ensure the 'exceptional circumstances' provision is met – only the most potentially dangerous suspects will ever be held beyond 28 days.

I would also like to emphasise the fact that even after these changes we still have, compared with other parts of Europe, a relatively short detention period and with the strictest judicial oversight possible. Take France and Spain for example, they have completely different systems to ours. In the UK we have an automatic right to access a lawyer, in France access to a solicitor can be withheld for up to 3 days. Also in France the phase of pre-trial detention can last for up to 4 years. In Spain a terrorist suspect can be held in preventative judicial custody for up to 4 years if the investigating judge considers there is sufficient evidence. The suspect is only entitled to legal advice on procedural matters and even then only for 13 days from the point of arrest. Unlike the UK in neither of the above examples is there a requirement to bring the suspect to trial.

On 19 January 2008 14 people were arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of plotting an attack. These individuals were held in preventative custody until being indicted on 5th June – 138 days detention without being charges.

The extension to a 42 day limit for exceptionally dangerous terrorists is absolutely the right decision for Britain and has support from all sectors of society including our Muslim community who want to be protected just like all other British people. All the recent faux critics should be ashamed of their political posturing.