Tory MP quits over terror plans
2008-06-12 14:52
London - The Home Affairs spokesperson for Britain's main opposition Conservative Party resigned on Thursday in an unprecedented move to trigger a by-election over controversial government anti-terrorism plans.
David Davis said he would fight for re-election in his Howden and Haltemprice constituency in northern England on a single issue: opposition to moves to detain suspected extremists for up to six weeks without charge.
The government won a vote in Parliament's lower House of Commons on Wednesday by just nine votes to increase the maximum limit from the current 28 days to 42 days, which has been condemned by political parties and civil rights groups.
Speaking outside Parliament, Davis said he wanted to take a stand against Prime Minister Gordon Brown's "relentless erosion" of long-held rights by plans such as 42 days, biometric identity cards and use of security cameras.
"I will argue in this by-election against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government," he told reporters.
Davis, who has been the Conservatives' home affairs spokesperson since November 2003 and came second to David Cameron in the party leadership contest in December 2005, won a 5 116 majority at the last general election in June that year.
The former Europe minister accepted it was a risk but the BBC and Sky News television both said that the Liberal Democrats, his most likely strongest challengers in the constituency, would not stand against him.
He described Brown's argument in favour of the increase as a political, not a national security one, and debate was vital into "one of the most fundamental issues of our day: the ever intrusive power of the state into our lives".