IT is a fundamental principle of our legal system that Parliament creates laws and the courts interpret them.

The Government, therefore, is within its rights to ignore the Law Lords' ruling that indefinite detention without trial contravened human rights laws.

The new Home Secretary's reluctance to repeal a central plank of anti-terrorism legislation within a few days of taking office is understandable. He does not wish his first action to be a humiliating reversal of policy.

However, to grant the wishes of the Law Lords will be an act of strength, rather than an act of weakness, on the part of Charles Clarke.

The resignation of Ian Macdonald, announced yesterday, marks the beginning of a campaign of pressure on the Government to overturn the laws.

Mr Clarke must act decisively and swiftly on this matter rather than wait to be hounded into action by Mr Macdonald and the further voices of dissent that will surely follow.

Indefinite detention of anyone without trial is wrong. That a person is suspected of terrorism does not make it right.

The law as it now stands is contrary to the notion of justice.

Quite rightly, Britain condemns such detentions when they occur in other countries. Indeed we have undertaken military action to overthrow regimes in which such detentions are common place.

Such detentions can never be justified in Britain. And Mr Clarke should stamp his authority in the Home Office by ensuring that Britain leads the free world by example.