of proscription is required—given the changing nature of ERWT groups it may be necessary to consider whether proscription in its current form requires changes."[1] However, when—as part of the process of producing this Report—we referenced this work, we were told that there was no standalone piece of work, merely ongoing work to keep the proscription regime under review as part of the "routine maintenance of the statutory framework" and that "no fundamental review of its effectiveness is planned or being undertaken".[2]
249. Proscription can also support other disruptive activities, including:
- immigration disruptions;
- EU asset freezes; and
- messaging to deter fundraising and recruitment.
Although we note that, to date, none of the Home Office-led legal disruptive tools available to HMG in counter-terrorism (national security deportations/exclusions/deprivations, etc) has been used against XRW subjects of interest.
250. For her part, the Home Secretary was clear that proscription is a useful tool to have in her armoury, and that the proscription process in itself was a helpful exercise:
It enables the system to understand so much more, not just about motives but the MO [modus operandi], the way in which organisations come together, sometimes looking at the parts of different organisations, have they franchised out, how they build new networks, and I think that's quite helpful.[3]
Q. Proscription has, to date, been an important disruptive tool in countering the influence and activities of bodies and organisations that seek to carry out terrorist activity. However, the ideologies driving Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism are complex, and in the case of, for example, neo-Nazi groups such as Order of Nine Angles, do not meet the terrorism threshold. We note that Counter Terrorism Policing and the Home Office are considering a possible review of the current proscription process—this is a welcome development.
Further legislation: Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act
251. The Home Secretary advised the Committee that the introduction of this new legislation had been prompted by attacks at Fishmongers' Hall[4] and Streatham,[5] following which "we literally put the floodlights on a system and we sort of looked underneath and we could see lots of holes . . . I'm not just speaking about the intelligence agencies and security agencies . . . I'm speaking about the end to end process now in terms of sentencing, courts, probation."[6]
- ↑ Written evidence - Homeland Security Group, 31 January 2020.
- ↑ Written evidence - Homeland Security Group, 22 October 2021.
- ↑ Oral evidence - Home Secretary, 20 May 2021.
- ↑ On 29 November 2019, Usman Khan stabbed five people, two fatally, at Fishmongers' Hall in London. Khan had been released from prison on licence in 2018 after serving a sentence for terrorist offences.
- ↑ On 2 February 2020, Sudesh Ammam stabbed three people in the street in Streatham, South London. He had been released from prison the previous month after serving half his sentence of three years and four months for terror offences.
- ↑ Oral evidence - Home Secretary, 20 May 2021.
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