Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of recent visits to the UK by individuals who have publicly expressed (a) support for and (b) justification of Hamas.

The UK proscribed Hamas in its entirety in 2021. Supporting a proscribed organisation is a serious criminal offence and this Government will do whatever is required to keep communities in the UK safe and protect our national security.

As set out in the recently published "Protecting What Matters" document, the Home Office is increasing efforts to stop hate preachers and extremists from entering the UK. Overseas speakers of extremist concern will be identified and referred to specialist teams to take swift immigration action where appropriate, including cancelling or refusing their visas or ETAs, should they attempt to travel to the UK and so preventing them spreading their dangerous and divisive rhetoric.

The Home Office already has sophisticated mechanisms in place to seek out and prevent extremist individuals from entering the UK. This work operates in conjunction with existing border security and immigration frameworks. As part of the annual State of Extremism report, the Home Office will include detail on the volume and type of cases where immigration action has taken place.