By Ben Russell, home affairs correspondent Plans to hold terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge were dramatically abandoned last night after the proposals were overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Lords. In an emergency statement to MPs last night, Jacqui Smith announced a major U-turn, confirming she would pull the hugely contentious plans out of the Counter Terrorism Bill. She backtracked on a key plank of Gordon Brown's legislative programme after peers inflicted a crushing defeat on the Government, voting by 309 to 118 – a majority of 191 – to reject any attempt to increase the current 28-day limit on detention. The defeat was one of the largest in the Lords since Labour came to power, as ministers, including the former Labour Lord Chancellors Lord Irvine and Lord Falconer, rebelled to throw out the detention...
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