IN politics there is sometimes a need to take action and sometimes a need to be seen to take action.
It is hard to escape the conclusion that changing the law so the passports of Islamist militants can be seized, as Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to do, falls into the latter category.
Mr Cameron admits that the current system of prosecuting returning extremists already works, but claims it is important to address any weaknesses in it. Yet he has barely managed to persuade his coalition partners in the Liberal Democrats that the latest proposal is a good idea, let alone the courts.
With Western governments still in reactive mode, apparently surprised by the rapid rise to prominence of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Mr Cameron has been forced into a response by the shocking images of atrocities carried out by Islamist militants, and by the potential threat posed by radicalised Britons returning from Syria and Iraq.
But this is not the coalition government's finest hour. LibDem ministers are right to draw attention to civil liberties concerns. Attacks on cherished personal freedoms could even help feed radicalism, especially if it seems as if they are targeted on particular ethnic or faith groups.
However, the LibDems are also left red-faced by this. They argued for the abolition of Labour's control orders in 2012, which were replaced by so-called TPIMS - Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures.
With the UK Government's proposed reforms, TPIMS will now become to all intents and purposes identical to control orders.
This regular churn of new and revised measures is dispiriting. Few would doubt that this threat is real. However, a knee-jerk reaction, resulting in bad law signals weak leadership.
It is important to strike a balance between security and freedom.
A government's first duty is to protect its people. But former LibDem leader Lord Ashdown is right to warn that politicians should not simply be cheerleaders for every demand made by the intelligence and security services.
Legal questions already dog the Government's proposals. It is illegal under international law to render a person stateless, and that may apply to stripping passports from citizens, even temporarily.
It is also irresponsible. Refusing to accept returning UK citizens, could simply mean passing them - and any threat they pose - on to other European countries. Civil and human rights campaigners Liberty have claimed this amounts to external exile "with the dangerous and innocent alike dumped like toxic waste on the international community". They are right and as such the policy is potentially immoral.
Far better to take responsibility for a problem that is ours, and use existing powers to deal with it. When we have already had extensive anti-terror legislation, it is important that any new measures are properly scrutinised to ensure they are necessary and that they will work. It is not clear Mr Cameron's proposals pass that test.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article