The counter-terrorism review was launched by the Home Office in July 2010 New measures to replace control orders have been revealed by the home secretary after a review of counter-terrorism powers.
It comes after the man who headed the review, Lord Macdonald, said the UK had over-reacted to 9/11 and 7/7.
The control order regime should now be scrapped by the end of the year and replaced with T-Pims (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures).
Critics have said the new system is little more than “control orders lite”.
In addition, as part of the counter-terrorism review, the limit of pre-charge detention will be cut from 28 to 14 days.
Outlining the plans to Parliament, Home Secretary Theresa May said the new regime would “better focused”.
As with control orders now, T-Pims will require the home secretary’s permission with reviews by the High Court.
The measures will be limited to two years, but will be able to be extended if there is new material that the individual still poses a threat.
They will also require overnight residence of eight to 10 hours, which will be verified by an electronic tag.
Currently curfews can last for up to 16 hours.
The coalition says it wants to rebalance counter-terror powers and liberties – but the replacement for control orders raises complex legal, security and political questions.
Officially, the current regime goes, but critics say the fundamental objection to the regime has not been addressed. The Home Secretary still has the power to use secret evidence kept from a suspect to impose restrictions on them – albeit lesser ones – which, if broken, could lead to jail.
Theresa May insists a more “focused and flexible” regime will leave no gaps in national security. The immediate political danger is that she will face attack from the security-minded for being too weak – and from civil liberties campaigners for falling short of hopes.
But once the detailed legislation comes to Parliament, the bigger question will be whether the new system genuinely changes the status quo – or simply tweaks the edges of a very difficult business.
The home secretary said this would be more flexible than a curfew and a controlee could stay away from their home address with permission.
Some measures will stay, such as a ban on overseas travel, the requirement to regularly report to the police and a breach of these conditions leading to a maximum five-year jail term
There will be limited restrictions on communications including the use of the internet, but controlees will be able to use it at home as long as they notify authorities of their password.
According to the Home Office these measures are not as restrictive as now.
In his report overseeing the counter-terrorism review, the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, said he supported most of the recommendations.
However, he was critical of the replacement measures for control orders.
“It may be appropriate and proportionate to mandate overnight stays at a notified address,” he said.
“But a tag is of limited use here, in the absence of curfew, and neither tags nor curfews are commonly used in criminal cases where residence requirements are in place: generally the police rely on spot visits and intelligence to enforce the requirement.
“In the circumstances I would regard the use of curfews and tags in this context to be disproportionate, unnecessary and objectionable. They would serve no useful purpose.”
Lord Macdonald told the BBC ahead of the announcement that “traditional ideals” had been sacrificed in the push against terrorism, and a balance had to be drawn between security and freedom.
He said there had been an element of over-reaction, meaning British institutions became a “symbol of hypocrisy” around the world.
The Home Office launched the review in July 2010, saying it would be rapid and would be aimed at reconciling counter-terrorism powers with civil liberties.
The parties agreed to scrap the power of police to hold a suspect without charge for 28 days – and the time limit has now reverted to the original 14 days, after ministers decided not to renew the legislation this month.
However, the coalition has struggled to reach a deal on the future of control orders – the controversial powers to restrict the movement of a small number of suspects who the government says cannot be prosecuted or, where they are foreign nationals, deported.
Security chiefs say the power is an essential tool in cases where there is intelligence that someone is involved in extremism but has not yet committed a crime, such as someone associating with known plotters.
The coalition ministers appear to have reached a deal to scrap control orders – but leaks in recent weeks have led critics to say the new system is little more than “control orders lite”.
Responding to the home secretary’s statement in the Commons, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the review had been” chaotic”.
She said it had been “delayed, confused, riven by leaks and political horse-trading”.
“It is a review with some serious gaps, which raises serious questions about security and resources and the public and the people who work to keep us safe deserve better than this.”
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said the government had “bottled it”.
“Spin and semantics aside, control orders are retained and rebranded, if in a slightly lower-fat form,” she said.
“As before, the innocent may be punished without a fair hearing and the guilty will escape the full force of criminal law.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.