7/7 London bombings: "The rules of the game have changed"

as the power to ban British Islamist organizations like al Muhajiroun, had little impact, as groups simply reorganized under a new name. The plan to allow ninety days detention without charge was defeated when forty-nine Labor MPs rebelled against the government.

Some of the new measures, on the other hand, such as those criminalizing the glorification or encouragement of terrorism, proved to be a useful tool for investigators and prosecutors. One of the most successful new measures — albeit one already under consideration before the bombings — was the prohibition of the preparation of terrorist acts, which allowed police to intervene, and possibly prevent, mass-casualty attacks before the details of any plot had become clear.

Most controversially,  the Terrorism Act 2006, a direct consequence of the attacks, provided for terrorism suspects to be held without charge for twenty-eight days, an increase of fourteen. That legislation was followed by measures that allowed the Bank of England to freeze the assets of terrorism suspects. The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, passed after  the government failed in its attempt to increase detention periods to forty-two days, allowed police to continue questioning suspects after they had been charged, required convicted terrorist to notify the police of their whereabouts, extended the jurisdiction of courts to overseas terrorism offenses, increased some sentences, and has been interpreted as banning photographs of the police in public places.

The number of arrests for terrorism offenses duly increased after the summer of 2005. There were about 280 arrests for alleged terrorism offenses in 2005-6, and although around 190 of those people were released without charge, the numbers of people charged and convicted also rose. After the bombings, dozens of terrorism charges were brought every year, usually against men in their 20s. Many of the charges were brought under counterterrorism laws that existed long before July 2005, including the 1883 Explosive Substances Act. Conviction rates on terrorism charges soared briefly after the bombings, according to Home Office figures, before settling down at around 60 percent.

The measures announced by the prime minister had not been intended to introduce a new counterterrorism strategy. That strategy, known as Contest, had been in existence since 2003. One of its key elements, the Prevent element, was intended to address the so-called root causes of terrorism, and Cobain notes that there was a reluctance within government, in the aftermath of the bombings,