Moves to increase the period that terrorist suspects can be held without charge will go ahead despite all-party opposition to the plans, Jacqui Smith told the Commons last night.

The Home Secretary said that, while she was still trying to secure a consensus on a package of antiterrorist measures, she was not going to wait until further attempts were made to inflict atrocities and bring panic to British streets.

Insisting that in future there would be a small number of extraordinary cases where a time limit longer than 28 days was required, she said that MPs would rightly ask questions if a suspect were released because the police had insufficient time to complete a case against him and then went on to perpetrate a terrorist outrage.

Ms Smith faced objections from several Labour MPs after the government plan to raise the limit, possibly doubling it to 56 days.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said that there was no evidence that an extension was needed. Introducing one would undermine hard-won freedoms without increasing security and risked acting as a recruiting sergeant for terrorists, he argued. He cited the alleged airline attack plot at Heathrow last year, where all the defendants were charged within 28 days.He also pointed out that, in a worst-case scenario such as a state of emergency, detainees can already be held for 56 days.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman and leadership contender, said extending the detention period was “divisive, wrong in practice and wrong in principle”.

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