Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill — New Clause 6 — Sunset Clause — 21 Nov 2001 at 18:00

The Aye-voters failed to add three new clauses to the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill which would have limited the duration of the Act that this Bill would become once it passed into law, and would have required the Secretary of State to produce an annual report on the parts of the Act relating to terrorism.

This proposal is called a "Sunset Clause", and it listed which parts of the Bill would last for one, two, and five years once it became law. This is an important device that ensures that legislation passed in the in the heat of a crisis is reviewed after a cooling off period. Otherwise it is liable to remain part of the law forever, for there is rarely an equal and opposite crisis that requires the Act to be removed.

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | Source |