The Home Secretary reminded Cabinet that in 2005 he had been convinced, as was the Government, that we needed to go further than 28 days. Given the continuing trend and experience from last year, the Home Secretary now believed that it was worth trying once again to convince parliament and the nation that going further would be a useful tool in the counter-terrorism effort. He told Cabinet that he was mindful of the need for balancing measures to reassure the public when introducing any move that could be perceived as an increase in the arbitrary use of State power. Precise options would be developed after further discussions with colleagues....

But we do believe it is quite likely that we are going to get to the point where, simply because of the large number of cases we are dealing with, and the complexity of those cases, 28 days at some point will not be enough.