KEY POINTS:
Plans to hold terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge were dramatically dropped yesterday after Labour faced one of its biggest defeats in the Lords since 1997.
Ministers moved to pull the hugely controversial proposal out of the Counter-Terrorism Bill after peers inflicted a crushing defeat on the Government, voting by 309 to 118 - a majority of 191 - to reject any attempt to increase the current 28-day limit on detention.
Instead, emergency legislation to bring the 42-day limit into force will lie on file, in case of a security crisis.
The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, made an emergency statement on the Bill after the Lords voted overwhelmingly to reject the proposed 42-day limit, the biggest defeat for Labour in the Lords since the rejection of a proposed clause in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill in 2005, when the Government lost by a majority of 187 votes.
The Home Office move came amid warnings to Labour and Prime Minister Gordon Brown that defeat in the upper house would open the way to a humiliating fresh rebellion in the House of Commons on the issue.
MPs and campaigners said that the Bill would run into fierce opposition if ministers attempted to defy the Lords and try to reintroduce the 42-day plan in the Commons.
The planned extension of detention was carried in the Commons by a majority of just nine votes despite a rebellion by 36 Labour MPs, after Democratic Unionist and Ulster Unionist MPs supported the Bill.
Lord Alan West of Spithead, the Home Office minister, insisted the 42-day detention period was needed as "back pocket legislation" in case of future complex terror plots.
But Lord Geoffrey Dear, the former West Midlands chief constable and crossbench peer, led calls to remove 42 days from the Bill, condemning the move as "a shabby charade" designed to look tough on terrorism. He said: "There is almost universal opposition to what the Government proposes. It almost beggars belief that any administration could embark on such a course."
Lord Charles Falconer, former Labour Lord Chancellor, said it was "fanciful" to argue that the plans would aid the fight against terrorism.
Lord Martin Thomas of Gresford, the Liberal Democrat frontbencher, condemned plans to give MPs a vote to trigger the extended detention powers. "That's not just unconstitutional, it's contemptible."
KEY DATES
* October 12, 2005: Then Prime Minister Tony Blair says police have presented an "absolutely compelling" case for terrorism suspects to be held without charge for up to 90 days.
* November 9: Blair suffers his first House of Commons defeat as MPs snub the 90 days proposal. They vote for 28 days.
* June 3, 2007: Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown says he will revive plans to raise the 28-day limit when he takes over at 10 Downing Street later in the month.
* July 25: Brown, now Prime Minister, backs a new maximum time limit of 56 days.
* November 12: Human rights group Liberty says Britain already has a much longer detention period for terror suspects than comparable countries. The next longest is Australia with 12 days.
* December 6: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announces proposals to raise the limit from 28 days to 42.
* June 11, 2008: Brown is saved from a humiliating Commons defeat when the 42-day detention plan scrapes through by just nine votes.
* October 13 The 42-day plan is defeated by 191 votes in the House of Lords. Smith announces the plan is being withdrawn.
- INDEPENDENT
