Home Office minister Tony McNulty has said the result of Wednesday's crunch vote on extending terror detention to 42 days is looking "very, very tight".

His comments to the BBC came after Cabinet ministers were told "there was still more to do" to win the vote.

Extending pre-charge detention from 28 days is opposed by the Conservatives, Lib Dems and 30 or so Labour MPs.

The result is seen as so close that the result might hinge on how the nine Democratic Unionist Party MPs vote.

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'Very hopeful'

In a sign of the sensitivities ahead of the vote, the head of the security service MI5 felt obliged to clarify its position on the proposal.

Meanwhile, Scotland's chief law officer has attacked the move and equalities chief Trevor Phillips says his commission may seek a legal challenge if the plans are approved.

Mr McNulty told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I think we are very hopeful but people shouldn't be under any illusion. It will be a very, very tight vote."

The opposition parties argue the proposed pre-charge detention limit would infringe civil liberties, but ministers argue it is necessary to deal with increasingly complex terror plots.

Jonathan Evans, head of MI5, said the organisation was not best placed to advise because it was not responsible for prosecutions or criminal investigations.

He said the security services had not sought to comment on the measures publicly or privately, except to say they recognised the challenge posed to police by the increasingly complex and international character of terrorist cases.

Meanwhile Lord Advocate Eilish Angiolini, who was appointed by the previous Labour Holyrood administration, told The Herald newspaper: "While there has been a limited number of cases in Scotland which were investigated in terms of the Terrorism Act 2000, I am not aware of any case where an extension of the period beyond 28 days would have been required.

"I, therefore, share the view of the DPP Sir Ken Macdonald and the former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, that the requirement for an extension to the current 28 day is not supported by prosecution experience to date."

Working majority

And Mr Phillips, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the EHRC may seek a judicial review, if the 42-days limit become law.

"Human rights are essentially just that - you can't just get rid of them if you think they are inconvenient," he said.

"This measure would effectively suspend for the human rights and in particular they suspend them for one part of the community ... The application of these powers would be to Muslims in this country."

Mr Brown, who has a working majority of 65 in the Commons, has made it clear that he does not regard this week's vote as a matter of confidence in his premiership.

But a defeat would add to the pressure on him as he seeks to regain momentum after recent difficulties, poor polls and elections results.

Ahead of Wednesday's debate and vote both sides are seeking to win over wavering Labour MPs - Amnesty International's UK director, Kate Allen, has written to all backbench MPs saying it represented a watershed for human rights in the UK.

(BBC)

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