MI5 called in to tackle far-Right extremists
BRITAIN’S spies will take responsibility for tackling the terror threat from Rightwing extremists as part of a major shake-up.
Amid concern that white supremacists are increasingly trying to stir up a racial and religious war on UK streets, MI5 will for the first time take the lead in combating the problem.
In the past, the police have been tasked with monitoring far-Right groups. It means the ideology will sit in the same security service portfolio as Islamist and Irish terrorism.
Extreme Right-wing activity will be designated as posing a key threat to national security.
Four far-Right terror plots have been thwarted in Britain since March 2017, compared to 13 involving Muslim fanatics. The authorities have expressed fears about a resurgence from neo-Nazi groups, especially since the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by white supremacist Thomas Mair in 2016.
In February, Darren Osborne was jailed for life for attacking Muslim worshippers with a van in Finsbury Park, North London, in June 2017.
In the past week, a man has been charged with sending 13 pipe bombs to opponents of President Donald Trump. And a second man was arrested for murdering 11 Jewish worshippers during an anti-Semitic gun attack at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on Saturday.
In the UK, there are about 100 live investigations into extreme Right-wing individuals and groups. Although the threat is not assessed to be of the same magnitude as that posed by Islamic State or Al Qaeda, security chiefs are aware that extreme Right-wing organisations are attempting to provoke violence and sow discord.
Sources told the Guardian that MI5’s techniques and greater powers will allow spies to discover more about threats posed by the extreme right than the police are able to.
It will formally take responsibility for identifying suspects, assessing their danger, analyse networks of extremists and rank threats.
Police will stay in charge when it comes to launch an operation to disrupt a plot and make arrests.
One source said: ‘MI5 are driving the car and SO15 [Counter Terrorism Command] are in the passenger seat. When there is a need to take a plot out, SO15 get in the driving seat.’ The change also means MI5 will have to find the agents, analysts and other staff.
Last month, Home Office figures revealed the number of white terror suspects being arrested was higher than those who were Asian for the first time since the July 7 bombings in 2005. In the year to June, 133 were white and 129 were Asian ethnic background.
On Wednesday, Britain’s top counter-terrorism police officer, Neil Basu told the home affairs select committee that the extreme Right-wing was growing across Europe. He said: ‘There is no doubt that crosses the border into the UK and there have been attempts by groups here to coordinate with European partners as well.’
‘Resurgence of neo-Nazis’