§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has made to make a formal declaration ending the state of emergency relating to the affairs of Northern Ireland following passage of the Terrorism Bill; and when he plans to communicate this to(a) the United Nations Secretary General and (b) the Council of Europe Secretary General. [133061]
§ Mr. IngramA major policy aim has been achieved with the passage of the Terrorism Act, in that when the Act comes into force early in 2001 we will introduce a new system of judicial authorisation of extended detention 1005W between 48 hours and seven days for all types of terrorism. This will enable the UK's derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights to be withdrawn. The new regime will be taken forward as a project under the Terrorism Act implementation plan. As Royal Assent was received only on 20 July, implementation work is at a very early stage, therefore I am unable to advise my hon. Friend at this stage of our communication plans.