John Wadham, director of Liberty:

"Mr Blair's tough talk is misdirected. Some of his plans are far more likely to threaten fair trials than actually to affect the crime rate.

"Taking away the rights of suspects doesn't tackle crime. There were 85 Acts of Parliament between 1981 and 2001 that dealt in some way or another with policing, crime or criminal justice: virtually all eroded the rights of suspects, defendants or offenders in some way or another.

"There is no evidence that they reduced crime. In fact the Home Office virtually never sets up research to investigate the claims made by its political masters when new measures are proposed".