Counter Terrorism Policing: Arrests

Lord Ranger Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend, whom I welcome to the House: this is the first time I have had the opportunity to answer a question from her since she joined.

It is important that we keep these matters under review. As I said in response to earlier questions, we are doing that. As a result of the incidents on 3 May, the security services and the police are making further assessments, and we are updating as a result of those incidents to ensure that we can make an up-to-date assessment. We will update the House as soon as we can on the outcome of those assessments. As I have said already, this is an ongoing investigation and until the end of the investigation we cannot take specific action accordingly.

I do say, and have said, that the proscription status of any organisation is now being examined by Jonathan Hall KC. That examination is taking place because, in the past, many of the threats were from organised groups or individuals; they were not state-backed terrorist threats. Therefore, we specifically asked Jonathan Hall KC to advise the Government on how we approach proscription for organisations that might be linked directly to a state. That review is due shortly, we intend to publish it shortly and we intend to try, if possible, to publish the Government’s response at the same time. I hope that the noble Baroness will be as patient as she can be, because we will be taking action on resolving how we deal with state threats. Having commissioned Jonathan Hall KC, we want to have the results of his deliberations and to respond to them, because they will help advise the Government on the best course of action.

[Lord Ranger (Con)]

My Lords, first, I congratulate our security forces and thank them for their superb job in stopping these terrorists in their tracks. We are a liberal democracy, we enjoy huge freedoms in this country and we also respect, accept and protect diversity. Unfortunately, there are certain regimes that are totally opposed to our way of thinking. They have no respect for diversity or for women, and we have to make it very clear that anyone who comes to disturb our way of life will not be tolerated and that there will be zero tolerance of any act of terrorism of any kind against any British citizen.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct. The first duty of any Government is to protect their citizens, and citizens from other countries who are residing here, in legal and appropriate ways. That is a key element of the work that goes on, day in and day out, by the security services, led by Sir Ken McCallum, from police services across the country, from the counterterrorism unit and from our officials in the Home Office. That is why we wanted to reassure the House by making this Statement in the House of Commons and now in this House, to show that action was taken last week. Because there will be speculation about what has happened, and why, we wanted to indicate that we had taken determined action.

However, as it is an ongoing investigation, until it is resolved we cannot give full details of targets, incidents and those involved, and also when the Crown Prosecution Service will take action accordingly. Noble Lords can rest assured, however, that security is our first duty and that is why the steps we have taken on the Iranian regime in relation to foreign influence and sanctions are important. We will keep everything under review, as I said, and I am grateful for the noble Lord’s support for the actions of the Government to date.