UK: Panic PTA expansion (feature)
01 March 1996
Before Parliament broke for the Easter recess, the Government rushed through Parliament, allowing no time for any informed debate or proper consideration, the highly controversial Prevention of Terrorism (Additional Powers) Act. This gives the police substantial and unprecedented new powers. Michael Howard described the changes as "essentially practical and technical measures", while Kevin McNamara, the Labour Party's former Northern Ireland spokesperson, considered them to be "an outrageous incursion into civil liberties". A guillotine motion was successfully passed by 261 votes to 47 to restrict the debate on the Bill to a mere six hours. The Labour Party agreed to support the fasttrack legislation after apparently receiving a confidential security briefing. Kevin McNamara claimed that Labour was being taken for a ride "by the Home Secretary. Once Labour changed its position on the PTA and conceded the point without debate, it was patently obvious that something like this would happen. We are easy pushovers for other powers that the government might seek to introduce".
The Bill was far from straightforward and the extraordinary speed with which it became law must raise questions about how many MPs fully understood what was being enacted and its implications. The Act extends, amends or repeals certain sections of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) 1989, which itself had been extended and amended by sections of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994. It was therefore necessary for Parliament to examine three separate pieces of legislation to appreciate fully the changes which were being proposed. In addition, very little information was made available to MPs on the use of existing police powers either under the ordinary criminal law or under the PTA. Max Madden asked for some details and in reply the Home Secretary admitted that he was unable to provide any figures for Northern Ireland and the figures he presented for the use of certain powers by the Metropolitan Police were at best confusing and at worst contradictory.
The Act provides new police powers in a number of areas. It extends police powers of stop and search of pedestrians, non-residential property, and unaccompanied freight at ports. In addition, it provides the police with new powers to cordon off areas under certain circumstances. Finally, it gives the police the power to impose temporary parking restrictions on roads or parts of roads. The focus on this piece will be on the first and fourth of these new powers.
Policing the streets: stop and search
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994 introduced a new section - section 13a - to the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1989. It gave the police new powers to stop and search vehicles and items carried by people for the purpose of preventing terrorism. They were exercisable anywhere within a police force area or at a specified locality within the area. The authorisation of a police officer of at least Assistant Chief Constable rank was required. It had to specify the area and was valid for up to 28 days. Under the provisions police officers could stop and search any vehicle or its occupants and could also stop pedestrians in the specified area or locality and search any thing carried by them for articles of a kind which could be used for the purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The police were able to exercise these powers whether or not they had any grounds for suspecting the presence of the particular articles.
The Prevention of Terrorism ( Additional Powers) Act introduces another new section - section 13b - to the PTA 1989. Under Clause 1 it further extends the power to stop and search to permit the actual search of the person and not just what they are carrying. A police officer may now stop any pedestrian and search them for any articles which could be used for terrorism. As any number of perfectly harmless items in n