The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, relaunched the government’s hearts and minds campaign aimed at Britain’s Muslims yesterday, promising she would not rush through anti-terror legislation that might leave them feeling isolated in response to the foiled bomb attacks in Glasgow and London. But she and Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, hinted that the 28-day limit on detention without charge would either be extended or abolished by leaving the period of detention open ended. Ms Smith said: “There may well be a case for looking very carefully at the amount of time that we are able to detain people pre-charge in order to ensure the very best opportunity to bring convictions.” Lord Carlile said yesterday he favoured an end to detention limits balanced by stronger judicial oversight, a position rejected by David Davis, the shadow home secretary.
