Should Cameron ban Britons fighting in Syria from the UK?

The prime minister has unveiled a raft of controversial measures including powers to cancel the passports of UK nationals which are expected to be part of a counter-terrorism bill to be tabled in Parliament this month.

Mr Cameron announced the proposals in a speech to the Australian parliament in Canberra, with the aim of making them law by the end of January.

The 'stateless': what happens if you take away citizenship? 

The plans have been agreed with the Liberal Democrat side of the coalition government following intensive negotiations after they were first outlined by Mr Cameron to the House of Commons in September in response to concerns that more than 500 UK citizens had been recruited by IS – including the notorious “Jihadi John”, who is believed to have been responsible for the murders of beheaded aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines.

What are the measures?

• The legislation will block individuals from returning from Syria and Iraq to the UK for at least two years
• If they return, they must comply with strict measures including being escorted back to Britain
• They could face prosecution on return
• There could be bail-style reporting conditions
• They could be subject to deradicalisation courses or terrorism prevention and investigation measure orders
• Border guards and airport police are to be given new powers to seize passports from individuals
• The power will be extended to under-18s
• Airlines will be ordered to comply with a “no-fly list” of individuals barred from travel to the UK
• Any airlines which bring banned individuals into the country could face civil penalties
• Passports could be temporarily withdrawn for 30 days
• Individuals who try again to leave the country could have their passport withdrawn repeatedly and find themselves placed on no-fly lists
• Any attempt to sneak back to the UK clandestinely after passport cancellation would be punishable by up to five years in prison

‘Non-starter’

Mr Cameron’s proposals are likely to spark legal wrangles, with opponents expected to argue that the cancellation of passports of Britons fighting overseas would render them stateless, in contravention of international law. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve warned in September that “even taking such powers on a temporary basis is likely to be a non-starter”.

But Downing Street sources indicated that the measures had been given the green light by Mr Grieve’s successor Jeremy Wright. They pointed out that individuals losing their passports would retain their UK citizenship and would be permitted to return to Britain, but only if they complied with stringent conditions.

Home Secretary Theresa May already has the power under royal prerogative to approve the seizure of passports of Britons suspected of travelling abroad for terrorist purposes, and it is thought to have been used around 24 times in the past year.

The director of campaign organisation Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said that there were “no short cuts to security.”

No short cuts to security. Dumping suspect citizens like toxic waste is a strange way of promoting the Rule of Law http://t.co/uAjuE4cmkc

— Liberty (@libertyhq) November 14, 2014

‘Additional powers’

Downing Street said the package would “significantly strengthen our armoury” in tackling the problem of foreign fighters, giving Britain the toughest system in the world after the US.

Addressing the Australian parliament during a visit ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Mr Cameron said: “We have to deal with the threat of foreign fighters planning attacks against our people. We will shortly be introducing our own new counter-terrorism bill in the UK.

We need additional powers as well as simply the criminal law. David Cameron

“Successive governments have come to the view – and I agree with that view – that when you are facing an existential challenge and a challenge as great as the one we face with these Islamist extremists, we need additional powers as well as simply the criminal law.

“We believe we need an additional set of powers in order to keep the country safe over and above what the criminal law allows, and I think it is very sensible that we do that.”

The international threat from terrorism will be high on the agenda, alongside economic growth, trade and infrastructure development, at this weekend’s summit of the world’s 20 leading economies in Brisbane.

‘Proof’

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile, a former inspector of terrorism legislation for the government, said he believed the proposals being set out by the coalition would be in line with international law.

“I expect to see that in the detail, and indeed my understanding was that was part of the deal that had been agreed,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I would expect them to contain a measure to move people around the country, subject to of course what one would expect, which is a proper standard of proof, and possibly subject to restrictions as to how far they would be moved”.