Government wants to hold terror suspects 42 days

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - The government has published its proposals on extending pre-charge detention for terrorism suspects to a possible 42 days, saying it was confident it would be able to turn the controversial measure into law.

The plan to raise by two weeks the maximum period that suspects can be held without charge in an emergency forms a key plank of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's legislative agenda for this year.

But Brown risks a damaging defeat in parliament unless he can convince Labour rebels to back the move.

Opposition parties have said they will vote against the plans, detailed in the government's Counter Terrorism Bill.

A proposal to increase pre-charge detention to 90 days led to Tony Blair's first defeat in the House of Commons in November 2005 as many Labour MPs rebelled before compromising on the current 28-day maximum.

This time round, a rebellion by just 34 Labour MPs would be enough to defeat the bill when it is debated later this year.

A newspaper poll last month found that at least 38 were prepared to vote against the government on the 42-day extension.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she remained hopeful that opposition parties could be won round to support the bill.