Blunkett's victory on terror law

David Blunkett's sweeping power to detain terror suspects was restored today after a dramatic Appeal Court victory.

The Home Secretary's controversial powers, rushed into law after 11 September, had been declared unlawful in July after a challenge from suspects rounded up and jailed without trial.

The men - all Muslim foreign nationals who have claimed asylum here - won a technical victory on the grounds that the law was discriminatory because it applied only to foreigners.

But a Home Office appeal today reversed the decision and preserved the Government's right to impose the most sweeping anti-terror laws in Europe.

The Appeal Court, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, said it was the court's duty to test carefully government powers to make sure they satisfied Britain's responsibilities to respect human rights.

But he added that when matters of a state of public emergency were at stake, the court had to recognise the Government was "in a better position than a court to assess both the situation and the action which is necessary to address it".