Lord Blencathra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2015-11-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to follow the example of the government of Belgium which has passed a law to arrest all suspected extremists who have returned to Belgium from Syria or Iraq.

Lord Bates

The UK has a wide range of disruptive tools and offences under which a suspected terrorist or violent extremist can be arrested and prosecuted. Earlier this year, we legislated, through the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 and the Serious Crime Act 2015, to strengthen further our capabilities to deal with the threat from foreign fighters and British-born jihadis who seek to harm the UK, including where they have undertaken prohibited activities abroad.We keep our counter-terrorism powers under constant review.

All decisions relating to the arrest, charge and prosecution of terrorism suspects are a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.