JURIST - Paper Chase: Former UK Home Secretary warns courts to back off terror laws

[JURIST] Former UK Home Secretary David Blunkett [Wikipedia profile] lined up over the weekend behind British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his new proposals for changing Britain's anti-terrorism laws [JURIST report], saying that parliament, not the courts, should be primarily responsible for protecting the security of the country:

If the judiciary say 'We think that parliament was wrong and therefore the democratic vote is wrong'. . .We obviously have the right to go back to parliament and to say 'We, the sovereign body who are elected, are the only ones in the end who are answerable for the protection of security and stability in our country. We will make the decision'.

Blunkett, now back in the Blair cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions after a visa scandal late last year that forced his resignation [JURIST rpeort], was speaking in response to criticism of proposed new deportation legislation from human rights lawyers. The Guardian has more.

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