The House of Commons was crammed with MPs sporting summer tans this afternoon for David Cameron's much anticipated statement on the government response to the UK's increased terror threat level.
The build-up to the speech has been fraught. Cross party talks between the Conservative party and their coalition-mates the Liberal Democrats reportedly ran through the weekend and this morning, weathering attacks from two former Liberal leaders, Menzies Campbell and Paddy Ashdown, who warned the government not to go too far. Following the raising of the UK's terror threat level to "Severe" on Friday—a decision which prompted today's announcement—alarmist rumours raced through Facebook about a planned attack on the tube until the Metropolitan Police were forced to issue a rare denial.
But for all that, the announcement was designed to defuse tension. Cameron—perhaps wary of an Obama-style tanned suit controversy—leant nonchalantly on the bench in a sober navy number to give a careful and measured statement. Below, we've run through the key points, but the general reaction to his announcement is likely to be sceptical; I overheard one lobby wag describing it as "window dressing."
What has been announced?
On three core points, the government seems pretty clear. First, they will draw up legislation to allow police to do what the Home Secretary can already do; to revoke or refuse the passports of UK nationals to stop them leaving the country. This should help prevent radicalised people jetting off to fight in Syria or Iraq. Second, they will make changes to the existing Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs) which are placed on terror suspects when there isn't enough evidence to charge them. Perhaps the most significant new power will be the ability to relocate some suspects from their homes to another part of the country, which is a more dramatic measure added on top of the existing option to ban people from designated "exclusion zones." Third, they will require air travel companies by law to give them more information about passengers, comply with British Government no fly lists and follow security screening requirements.How much further could he have gone?
It's worth pointing out that Cameron took a firm stand against the views of his fluffy haired challenger-in-waiting Boris Johnson. In a Telegraph column last week, Johnson called for the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" to be revoked for suspected terrorists. That option is off the table--Cameron said it would be "wrong" to deal with this threat by changing core principles of the justice system.There is also likely to be furious discussion and debate over a fourth key announcement Cameron made. The Government has called for cross party talks and further investigation into the possibility of temporarily preventing UK nationals who have aligned themselves with terrorist groups overseas from returning home. It is illegal under international law to make one's citizens stateless, and the Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, a former Attorney General, said in the chamber today that it might also be against UK common law. The Government is aware of this, and a number 10 source briefed that because of the legal complexity involved, the government was looking to explore its options in this area, not yet announcing any concrete new power. They will likely face questions from some sections of the press as to why they did not solve these legal issues before making the announcement.
