Detention without charge tramples rights won over centuries, says Shami Chakrabarti. Labour MPs must resist prolonging it just for party posturing

Make no mistake: these new powers to detain suspects for six weeks trash centuries of British justice and shame us in the eyes of the world. Shami Chakrabarti reports.

Cameron could give substance to the “compassionate Conservatism” tag by keeping his predecessors promise on asylum.

Why did this government have to be told it was acting inhumanely?

Indefinite detention without trial – as in the government’s terror laws – runs roughshod over the ancient right to liberty and modern human rights legislation.