The Government’s 42 day detention proposals have been firmly rejected by voters, according to a new poll commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. The ICM poll found just 36% support detention of terrorist suspects for up to six weeks, with the majority, 60%, favouring 28 days or fewer.
The findings come just a day before voters go to the polls in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. David Davis resigned the seat in order to contest it on the issue of civil liberties, in particular prolonged detention without charge. It also supports peers who are planning to block the detention proposals when they come to the House in the autumn.
The myth that the public are overwhelmingly in favour of 42 days detention, as propagated by the BBC, the Telegraph, et al, has now been well and truly blown out of the water.
Hat-tip: Matt Wardman.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Matt // Jul 9, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Perhaps take a careful look at the poll detail, Gavin.
There’s a fair but of criticism coming in.
2 Lee Griffin // Jul 9, 2008 at 6:29 pm
There’s a fair bit of criticism coming in, but is any of the criticism fair? I’ve yet to see a good argument as to why this poll is suddenly biased. If you ask people if we should lock up terrorists, they’ll support it. That’s all the other polls showed. The Liberty poll was a bit more informed but sided too much on the other side of the fence. This poll is intelligent enough to remind people of innocent until proven guilty, and ask if it’s ok to hold innocent or guilty people for those lengths of time.
Funnily enough when you start talking about innocent people as well the support dwindles, it always does. I don’t talk to enough people to be representative, it’s all annecdotal, but I’ve not met one person who agrees with 42 days when you talk about the principle of locking someone away who may be innocent.
3 Gavin Whenman // Jul 9, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I kind of agree with you Matt that there are certainly criticisms that can be made of this poll - in fact the first time I read the question my immediate thought was “push-polling”.
HOWEVER, the “push” seems to me perfectly legitimate: Davis’s campaign is all about educating voters. This poll shows that within one line and a bit of education, the public change their mind. The support for 42 days is therefore extremely flimsy, and perhaps I think shows that as the arguments surrounding prolonged detention without charge become better known (as they are likely to, given the bill currently before Parliament will probably take a year or more to pass), public support in “non-pushed” polls will fall significantly.
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