As the PPS to the Minister for Police and Counter Terrorism, I know just how grave the threat of terrorism is to our national security, and as someone who is an active supporter of Amnesty International and pro-civil rights movements across the world, the introduction of new laws which affect the right of the state to apprehend and hold individuals is not something I have ever taken lightly.

As a Government, we have to deal with the issues and the threats posed by terrorism and present solutions to combat these; not simply wish away the threat. The introduction of tougher anti-terrorism legislation is not a choice any of us ever thought we would have to make, but it is now our responsibility. With this in mind, the case for providing the police with the powers to hold terrorist suspects for up to 42 days in extraordinary circumstances is undoubtedly the right way forward.

Parliament has held lengthy, robust debates into these issues. I have sat on committees gathering evidence from the police, from counter-terrorism experts, legal experts and others and the Government has listened at every turn to arguments for and against these proposals and sought to fetch forward legislation which the whole of the House of Commons can support. Time will tell over the next week whether or not these efforts have succeeded but I am clear in my own mind that the Government is taking the right action.

Why? Because the evidence from the police is compelling. Giving evidence in public, the Police told Members of Parliament, including me, that they have foiled numerous attempted terrorist atrocities since the London bombings of 7/7. They told us that each foiled plot would have resulted in a significant loss of civilian life. They told us that the nature of terrorism now means that in some circumstances they will require longer than 28 days to gather sufficient evidence to make effective charges. Years later, Police are still going through the evidence gathered as part of the investigations into 7/7. Why? Because multiple computer hard drives in multiple towns, cities and countries are often encrypted. When or if 'cracked' the information on these drives often needs to be translated - all of this is time consuming.

Thursday the 5th June is a day that will linger in the memories of all those that turned out to give Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh a warm West Cumbrian welcome. It was marvellous to see such an enthusiastic welcome for the royal visitors from the children of our local schools. It was my great pleasure as your MP to welcome the royal couple to Whitehaven.

The main purpose of the visit was to commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of the granting of the harbour charter, this was a great opportunity to celebrate the history, tradition and culture of the town, especially at a time in the town’s history when we are looking to the development of an exciting future for our area.