Telegraph : 80% of Britons say 'Ditch US in Terror War'

Ditch US in terror war, say 80pc of Britons

By Toby Helm and Philip Johnston | August 17, 2006

A majority of British people wants the Government to adopt an even more "aggressive" foreign policy to combat international terrorism, according to an opinion poll conducted after the arrests of 24 terrorism suspects last week.

However - by a margin of more than five to one - the public wants Tony Blair to split from President George W Bush and either go it alone in the "war on terror", or work more closely with Europe.

Only eight per cent of those questioned by YouGov said Mr Bush and Mr Blair were winning the battle against Muslim fundamentalism.

A majority also wants tougher domestic legislation that would allow police more time to detain suspects while they investigate complex terrorism plots.

Some 69 per cent said that the police should be able to hold suspects for up to 90 days without charge, rather than be bound by the current 28-day limit.

The poll findings will encourage John Reid, the Home Secretary, who has warned the British public that they will have to forgo many of the freedoms and liberties they have grown used to in order to ensure the maximum level of security.

Yesterday Mr Reid highlighted the benefit of European co-operation in the battle against terrorism.

He told a mini-summit of European Union home ministers in London that Europe faced a "very real and persistent threat from a form of terrorism that is unconstrained in its evil. . . and its ability to cause immense harm, death and destruction".

The meeting was "symbolic" of a Europe standing together against the most serious threat faced by modern governments, Mr Reid said.

He contrasted what he called the common EU values of "human rights, democratic freedoms and justice for all" with an "intolerant, violent totalitarianism that seeks to destroy those values, ironically by subverting a religion whose very name stands for peace".

Several of Europe's leading politicians, including Nicholas Sarkozy, the French interior minister, and Wolfgang Schauble, his German counterpart, attended. They agreed that airport checks across Europe had to be harmonised to ensure consistency and prevent terrorists exploiting security gaps.

The survey, carried out for The Spectator magazine, shows that a majority of people now recognises everyday lives will change fundamentally. Seventy three per cent agreed that "the West is in a global war against Islamic terrorists who threaten our way of life".

When asked whether Britain should change its foreign policy in response to terrorism only 12 per cent said it should be more conciliatory, compared with 53 per cent who thought it should become more "aggressive" and 24 per who wanted no change.

People were divided about the Muslim community in Britain. Fifty per cent said "most British Muslims are moderate" while 28 per cent disagreed with the statement and 22 per cent did not know.

While there was strong support for a hard line on terrorism at home, the survey exposed deep-seated distrust of the foreign policies championed by Mr Bush since September 11, 2001. Only 14 per cent believed Britain should continue to align itself with America.

On a recent five-day visit to the United States Mr Blair did nothing to distance himself from Mr Bush - despite pressure to do so from Labour MPs. In the White House he stood shoulder to shoulder with the President, stressing the struggle the West faced against an "arc of extremism" stretching from Afghanistan to the Lebanon.

Some 60 per cent of people thought the war on terrorism would continue for at least 10 years, with 44 per cent of these thinking it would still be going on in 20 years' time.

Fifty per cent of people believed Mr Blair should have broken his holiday to deal with the crisis caused by the arrest of suspects in last week's alleged plot to blow up transatlantic aircraft. Forty three per cent thought he could do the job as well by telephone and e-mail.

Stressing the need for European co-operation, Mr Reid said: "It's very important that the measures that are taken in one country are reflected in other countries because we want equal security for all our countries. We must not have a position where terrorists feel if it is difficult to get through security checks in London, they might be able to go to Paris or Frankfurt or Berlin".