An outbreak of political unity accompanied the UK government’s £400bn rescue package for banks last week. But elsewhere at Westminster, there is the prospect of conflict as usual. The battleground on Monday is the House of Lords vote on ministers’ plans to extend to 42 days the length of time terror suspects can be held without charge. Peers are expected to defeat the proposal resoundingly. Excellent. Gordon Brown should then abandon this policy which has come to symbolise so much of the erosion of civil liberties and personal freedoms under this Labour administration.

From the start, the proposed powers looked more a political fix than a thoughtful response to the genuine threat to UK security from international terrorism. They only squeaked through the Commons with the help of nine opposition Northern Irish MPs and after being so hedged with safeguards and qualifications that even the small band who believe the police should have longer to question suspected terrorists without charge think they are unworkable. The answer to the increasing complexity of investigating terrorist threats is not to extend detention but to improve intelligence and speed up police work.