Political Brinksmanship

Doesn't this just smack of political brinksmanship? So if an opposition party don't agree to the extension of the holding without trial period, they can be accused of being "soft on criminals" in the next election campaign?

It stinks. We hold people longer than is necessary, and release them without charge and without recompense should they have lost their jobs in the intervening period.

If you can't be sure that someone is likely to have committed a crime, then do more groundwork on the evidence collection side until you have a case which can be proved in less than four weeks. It's fairly simple. Then you won't have cases like the brothers in East London who were held for weeks while their house was taken apart over a "suicide vest" that simply didn't exist.