In wake of the recent bombings in London, Tony Blair has outlined plans to extend powers to deport or exclude foreigners who encourage terrorism.
So here we go…
- New grounds for deporting and excluding people from the UK – including fostering hatred or, advocating and justifying violence to further beliefs. The powers will cover statements already on record. Consultation on the plans will finish this month
- Agreements with other countries, such as Jordan, to ensure people can be deported to their nations of origin without being tortured or ill-treated
- Amend human rights laws, if necessary, to prevent legal obstacles to new deportation rules
- Home secretary automatically to consider deporting any foreigner involved in listed extremist bookshops, centres, organisations and websites
- Make justifying or glorifying terrorism anywhere an offence
- Automatically refuse asylum to anyone with anything to do with terrorism anywhere
- Consult on setting a maximum time limit for extraditions to other countries – Mr Blair said it was unacceptable that Rashid Ramda, wanted for the Paris Metro bombing 10 years ago, was still in the UK
- Examine calls for police to be able to hold terror suspects for longer before pressing charges
- Use more control orders against British terror suspects, who cannot be deported
- Increase the number of special judges hearing terror cases
- Ban the Hizb ut Tahrir and the successor organisation of Al-Muhajiroun – and look at whether the grounds for banning such groups need to be widened
- Review the threshold for gaining British citizenship and establish, with the Muslim community, a commission to advise how to better integrate parts of the community “presently inadequately integrated”
- Create a list of foreign preachers who will be kept out of the UK and consult on creating new powers to close places of worship used to foment extremism
- Use biometric visas for those from designated countries and compiling a database so people whose views or activities pose a threat to UK security can be kept out of the country. They could only appeal against the decision from overseas.
And this is possibly only just the begining…