Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis the National Counter Terrorism Policing Network included Critical Mass on their list of Left Wing and Associated Single Issues organisations in June 2019.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Counter-Terrorism Policing produce a range of guidance documents designed to assist frontline officers and counter terrorism colleagues in making informed decisions.
The document in question clearly says that it was produced to help police and close partners identify and understand signs and symbols they may come across in their day-to-day work.
As both Government and the police have said, protest groups are not extremist groups and membership of a protest organisation is not an indicator that an individual is vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.
Clearly, the inclusion of protest groups in documents like these without context can be concerning, which is why the police’s swift response in clarifying their position is welcome.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis the National Counter Terrorism Policing Network included Greenpeace in their 'Signs and Symbols' document, published in June 2019.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Counter-Terrorism Policing produce a range of guidance documents designed to assist frontline officers and counter terrorism colleagues in making informed decisions.
The document in question clearly says that it was produced to help police and close partners identify and understand signs and symbols they may come across in their day-to-day work.
As both Government and the police have said, protest groups are not extremist groups and membership of a protest organisation is not an indicator that an individual is vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.
Clearly, the inclusion of protest groups in documents like these without context can be concerning, which is why the police’s swift response in clarifying their position is welcome.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 29 March (HL Deb, col 900) that “assessment is made of the throughput of traffic and gates are opened and closed accordingly”, why no biometric gates were open at the St Pancras Eurostar terminal on 30 March at a time of maximum traffic; and whether they intend to review their assessment procedure to avoid a recurrence of delays.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The biometric gates at St Pancras Eurostar terminal are owned by Eurostar and operated by French Police aux frontieres. They are part of the French border control process and they dictate the hours of operation.
The Eurostar Gare du Nord to St Pancras route has a juxtaposed control in place and the UK Border checks are carried out at Gare du Nord. I can confirm the UK biometric gates were open between 0500-1900 on the 30 March 2018.