Home secretary Javid unveils new counter-terrorism strategy

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has unveiled his new counter-terrorism strategy under which domestic security services will share information with other agencies on British citizens suspected of having terrorist sympathies.

In his first keynote speech on security since he became home secretary, Javid announced a range of steps aimed at strengthening the powers available to security agencies to prevent attacks from Islamist as well as extreme right-wing terror groups.

He said MI5 will be allowed to declassify and share information on UK citizens suspected of having terrorist sympathies with other government agencies, local authorities and businesses, the BBC reported.

Under the new counter-terrorism plan, he said, key biographical data will be given to neighbourhood police, councils and the charity commission in London, Midlands and Manchester trial schemes.

Javid said there had been a "step change" in the threat to the UK, with 25 Islamist-linked plots foiled in the last five years and four extreme right plots stopped since March 2017.

He said there is a need for increased and faster sharing of information between security services and the police as well as local authorities and other public agencies so that there is no "safe space" in the UK for terrorists to plan and carry out attacks.

The security services currently hold information on around 20,000 people labelled "closed subjects of concern" who have previously been investigated and it is believed could pose a threat in the future, the BBC said.

Intelligence on up to a hundred of these could initially be shared.

Examples of co-operation, he said, could lead to "faster alerts for suspicious purchases, improving security at crowded places across the UK, and reducing the vulnerability of our critical infrastructure".

Other proposals include increasing maximum sentences for some offences and enhancing the use of data to track terrorism suspects.

Javid's speech comes a day after the one-year anniversary of the London Bridge attack. The attack involved three attackers led by Pakistani-origin terror suspect Khuram Butt going on a rampage killing eight people and injuring 48 others before being shot by police.

The new counter-terrorism strategy came amid reports that UK police and security services are facing a surge in the number of convicted terrorists released from prison.

The Guardian newspaper reported that more than 40 per cent of the sentences for terrorism offences handed down over a 10-year period will have been served by the end of the year.

More than 80 of the 193 terror-related sentences handed down between 2007 and 2016 will expire this year. The number of individuals released could be much higher as prisoners are eligible for release halfway through their sentence, the daily said.