Shropshire Star

Poll: Should police and border staff be given the power to seize passports of terror suspects?

New anti-terror laws have been published amid criticism by human rights groups and concerns raised by the terrorism legislation watchdog.

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A new Counter-terrorism and Security Bill, containing a range of draconian powers including new orders that can block suspected British fighters from returning to the UK, was introduced to Parliament.

The anti-extremist reforms were published as police officers entered the third day of a counter-terrorism awareness week, which will see more than 6,000 people receive briefings at 80 venues across the country.

Meanwhile, a couple were arrested on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences at Heathrow Airport as they returned to the UK on a flight from Istanbul, while at the Old Bailey two brothers who admitted conspiracy to attend a terror training camp in Syria were being sentenced.

Plans to block suspected jihadists from returning to Britain in the bill are "nothing like as dramatic" as David Cameron indicated they would be earlier this year, according to the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson.

Mr Anderson described the original proposals unveiled by the Prime Minister in September to counter the threat from British extremists travelling abroad to fight for Islamic State (IS) as an "announcement waiting for a policy".

He told MPs and peers he believed that it had soon become clear that such a move would "neither legally nor practically" work and the plan was now for a system of "managed return".

The new counter-terror legislation will ban insurance companies from footing the bill for terrorist ransoms and powers will be re-introduced to relocate terror suspects across the country.

A statutory duty will be placed on named organisations - such as colleges, universities, the police and probation providers - to help deter radicalisation and, where organisations fail, ministers will be able to issue court-enforced directions to them.

Police are to be handed powers in the new bill to force internet firms to hand over details that could help identify suspected terrorists and paedophiles, while police and border staff will be given the power to seize the passports of terror suspects.

Its second reading in Parliament - the first opportunity for MPs to debate the main principles of the bill - will take place tomorrow.

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