National Security Act 2023 (Designated Bodies) Regulations 2026

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, I am very happy to thank the Minister for bringing forward these regulations today, after ongoing calls to do so, as he mentioned. We welcome that the Government are taking action to designate the three bodies after Parliament recently passed the National Security (State Threats) Act. We all know the risks that groups such as the IRGC pose towards the United Kingdom, and it is right that the new powers have been brought forward and used to prevent support for and assistance to state-linked bodies that pose such threats.

The Minister will know that my noble friends Lord Davies of Gower and Lord Cameron of Lochiel welcomed the state threats Bill when it was before your Lordships’ House. However, they raised a number of concerns as to what we considered to be gaps in the Bill and what we think remain gaps in the Act now. It was disappointing to see the Liberal Democrats side with the Government in opposing our amendment to that Bill to criminalise the display of insignia and the wearing of uniforms associated with a designated body, as recommended by Jonathan Hall. It is unfortunate that, despite these regulations designating the IRGC, the flag of the IRGC—with its menacing fist holding aloft an assault rifle—will still be able to be prominently displayed on our streets. The Government have said that this is about diplomatic relations, but there are no diplomatic relationships with Russia or Iran, which are of course the mother countries of these organised associations designated in the regulations.

It is also concerning that the Government appear not to have tackled the true nature of the threat presented by the IRGC. It is not just a conventional state actor—the Minister has outlined that. It constitutes a unique hybrid terror threat. Although it is a state actor, it is also an ideological group that adheres to a specific form of extreme Islamism. It combines both conventional hostile state activity with a sort of asymmetric warfare and the dissemination of terrorist material. It incites, promotes, instigates, inspires and carries out threats of ideologically motivated violence and terrorism, including, as the Minister said, on British soil.

These are the threats that we were trying to tackle in our amendments to the state threats Bill. Although it is welcome that the Government have at least tried to tackle the threat from the IRGC, the GRU Volunteer Corps and the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, I still worry that they have not created legislation with the teeth to tackle these threats. I would be grateful, in conclusion, if the Minister can reconfirm, as he said during the passage of the Bill, that the issues that I have outlined today will be addressed in a future national security Bill.