Boris to overhaul UK’s treason laws

‘It’s crucial to give security services more legal tools’

BORIS Johnson is to give Britain’s treason laws the biggest shakeup since 1695 in a bid to counter the growing threat of hostile states like Russia and China.

In the wake of severe criticism from Parliament’s Intelligence Committee in the Russia report, increased hostilities with China and l egal l oopholes that could see returning IS fighters walk free, a ‘ three- pronged attack’ is being drawn up by Ministers.

This would see a new Treason Act, a new Espionage Act to track foreign agents and influencers, and a rewriting of the Official Secrets Act ‘to make it fit for the digital era’.

Downing Street sources say the PM wants the new measures on the statute books ‘within months rather than years’.

The package of support for Britain’s security services will bring the UK in line with allies like America and Australia.

A Government source said: ‘We want to strengthen our response to reduce the threat posed by hostile state activity in the UK and make the UK a harder environment for adversaries to operate in.’

The Treason Act will see anyone who swears an allegiance to a foreign power or organisation criminalised if they operate in or attempt to enter the UK. It would close the legal loophole that could see IS converts like Shamima Begum escape justice if they returned to the UK due to a lack of specific crimes committed domestically.

Meanwhile, the Espionage Act would create a register of foreign agents of influence operating in the UK as well as clamping down on British citizens aiding the nation’s enemies.

As well as tackling traditional spy activity, the security services want tougher measures to reign in British bankers, lawyers and services suppliers who work to flout weak current laws in order to aid hostile regime figures and foreign criminals at will. Many of these measures were drawn up in 2019 by Sajid Javid, who sets out in today’s Mail on Sunday below the scale of the threat faced by Britain. The Russia report revealed that since the Cold War ended, 96 per cent of British security capacity has gone towards tackling the threat of terrorism, with just four per cent countering hostile states.

But in his first response to the i ncendiary report, the former

Home Secretary has launched a passionate defence of Britain’s security services, who were criticised by senior MPs.

On the multiple hostile state threats they are facing, Mr Javid says: ‘Our brilliant security services will always have to make difficult decisions in prioritising their efforts, but we can no longer afford to treat state threats and terror threats as an either/or.’

He adds: ‘It is crucial that we give the police and security services more legal tools. Too often, it feels as if our laws work against a common sense of justice and security.’

And Mr Javid urges more international cooperation by the ‘forces of freedom’.