Anti-terrorist legislation rushed through Westminster after the Omagh bombing was "fundamentally illiberal", the Liberal Democrats spokesman on Northern Ireland told the party conference in Brighton yesterday, Rachel Donnelly reports.
The party supported the legislation dealing with Northern Ireland when it came before parliament earlier this month, Mr Lembit Opik said, but MPs had consistently voted against clauses in the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act dealing with international terrorism on the grounds that they had not been properly debated.
Mr Opik supported an emergency motion, which was passed unanimously, calling on Liberal Democrats to vote against the Act's renewal and insist instead on legislation preserving human rights.
