She said that the UK faces a “serious and sustained threat” from terrorists and that the Home Office had to make plans to counter it.
“The events in London and Glasgow forced the whole nation’s attention on security,” she told the Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday. “It’s a challenge that is likely to face us over a long period of time.”
Smith claimed the time is now right to reconsider holding terror suspects without charge for longer than 28 days.
Just two years ago MPs rejected proposals to allow suspects to be held for up to 90 days.
On Wednesday the Home Office will publish a document on tackling terrorism, which Smith said will “strengthen the legal framework still further”. She said it will highlight the ways the earlier extension from 14 to 28 days has helped police in their enquiries.
Smith claimed that in recent investigations, four suspects were held for between 19-20 days before being charged. She said six people were held for 27-28 days- three of which were charged.
When asked whether she thought the 28-day period had coped with the reality of complex terror plots, Smith said:
“We know that time has been pushed… There is evidence of us going up to 28 days.”
But the Home Secretary admitted:
“In order to reduce threat, preventing people from turning to terror in the first place is absolutely crucial.”
Smith warned that security services had identified 2,000 potential terror suspects- up 400 on the last estimate- and around 30 possible plots.
Gordon Brown has since unveiled his plans to double the amount of time suspects can be held without charge to 56 days.
He said the extension was necessary to allow police to sift through the large amount of evidence involved with complex plots.
Brown told MPs that the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners last August had led to the investigation of 200 mobile phones, 400 computers, and 70 homes.
Conservative leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell have both called for evidence to justify a change in the law.
The Prime Minister also announced stricter border controls and said 4,000 foreign prisoners are likely to be deported by the end of the year. Brown told MPs that a new ‘unified border police’ would be created to combat the terror threat.
He added that, by the end of next year, all foreign nationals staying in the UK for longer than six months would have to carry biometric identification.
