Emergency laws to block early release of terrorists pass first hurdle in Lords

Emergency laws to stop terrorists being automatically released halfway through their sentences have cleared a major hurdle in the Lords.

The second reading of the Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Bill was backed by peers on Monday without a vote.

There could be more challenges ahead for the bill during the detailed committee stage, but if the legislation is passed unamended it will be ready to become law.

Ministers want to get legislation, which has already cleared the Commons, on the statute book by February 27, before the next terrorist prisoner comes up for release.

It follows the Streatham terror attack earlier this month, when Sudesh Amman stabbed two bystanders with a knife he had grabbed from a shop.

The 20-year-old had been jailed in December 2018 for possessing and distributing terrorist documents but had been freed midway through his sentence less than a fortnight before the attack.

It was the second attack in three months by a convicted terrorist, after Usman Khan stabbed and killed two people at Fishmongers’ Hall near London Bridge in November.

He had been released nearly a year earlier, halfway through a 16-year jail sentence.

In the Lords, a former terror legislation watchdog challenged the retrospective nature of the emergency legislation.

Lord Anderson of Ipswich said recent terror attacks mean “a political reaction is inevitable and wholly understandable”.

But he told peers: “Urgent and piecemeal legislation… rarely makes for optimal results.”

Challenging the retrospective aspect of the legislation, Lord Anderson said: “It’s a long-established principle of our law… that existing prisoners should not be adversely affected by changes in the sentencing regime after their conviction.”

Labour former lord chancellor Lord Falconer backed the Bill but also challenged the impact of increasing the point at which terrorist prisoners would be considered for release.

“What is so objectionable about retrospectively increasing a sentence?” he asked.

“What is objectionable about it is it is not the courts who are deciding how long you are in prison, it is the executive or the legislative deciding, pursuant very frequently to public pressure, and that really undermines the rule of law.”

Opening the debate, Tory justice spokesman Lord Keen of Elie said Parliament must put a stop to current arrangements that allowed a “dangerous terrorist to be released from prison by automatic process of law before the end of their sentence”.

Lord Keen said automatic halfway release was “simply not right in all cases” and emergency laws were required with further releases due in days.

The aim was to “standardise the earliest point” at which terrorist offenders may be considered for release at two-thirds of the sentence imposed and require the Parole Board to assess whether the prisoner is safe to release.

Lord Keen acknowledged that applying the legislative provisions retrospectively was an “unusual step” but insisted this reflected the “unprecedented gravity of the situation” and the “danger posed to the public”.

He said the provisions did not alter the length of the sentence but the amount of time served in prison.

The plans, which will affect around 50 prisoners, aim to make sure terrorist offenders serve two-thirds of their sentence before they are considered eligible for release, rather than the current halfway mark.

Before being freed they would need to be reviewed by a panel of specialist judges and psychiatrists at the Parole Board.

The Liberal Democrats withdrew an amendment of regret that the legislation did not propose new measures to deradicalise prisoners.

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Bill to block early release of terrorists clears the Commons