Lord Harris of Haringey, Former London Assembly Member and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, yesterday spoke in favour of the Government’s controversial terrorism bill.
Harris, who lost his seat at the last GLA elections, claimed the bill was "necessary" claiming there was a "very significant change needed" in the manner in which we respond to the claimed terrorist threat.
In a lacklustre speech to during the House of Lord’s debate Harris claimed detaining people for the 14 days currently allowed by anti-terrorism legislation was "insufficient".
The Labour Peer claimed the bill was an "honest attempt to try and balance the realities before us".
Meanwhile it emerged that Home Office Minister Hazel Blears struck a blow for community relations when she claimed that UK Muslims should accept that they are more likely than other social groups to be stopped by the Police.
Speaking to MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Monday, the Minister stated:
"The threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of Islam, or who are falsely hiding behind Islam,"
"It means that some of our counter-terrorism powers will be disproportionately experienced by the Muslim community."
