David Davis, Lisbon and JHA

My personal view on David Davis's resignation over the 42 day terror limit amongst other issues is that it's all pretty irrelevant if his party will not have a retrospective referendum on Lisbon.

The things I am really opposed to are issues like ID cards and biometric passports which stem from the EU (and which the Lid Dems voted for) and Corpus Juris.

On the 42 day detention for terror subjects I am less concerned about it because as an Act of Parliament it can be repealed by Westminster. Having read into it, it's not a straight forward application for 42 days locked up, magistrates and parliament have to approve each case. If that were not the case I would have been concerned by it.

The real issue for me is that we don't have situations that exist on the continent which we could see being used in the UK as the government have signed us up to losing our veto on Justice and Home Affairs.

France: Up to 72 hours without seeing a lawyer and four years in pre-trial detention

Germany: Must be seen by a judge within 48 hours but can be held without trial during investigation

Greece: Up to 12 months - 18 months in extraordinary cases

Italy: Up to 24 hours without seeing a lawyer

Norway: Up to 48 hours - a judge can increase this period

Spain: Up to 72 hours without a lawyer - can be increased to a maximum of 13 days

USA: The attorney general can detain foreign suspects but must start deportation proceedings within seven days. Suspects can be held for periods of six months

So David Davis campaigning for a retrospective referendum on Lisbon would please me. Him campaigning on this but letting more power go to Brussels would not. It would also make this all rather irrelevant.