MPs blast plan to block extremists’ return to UK

DAVID Cameron’s plans to bar terror suspects from entering the UK will be condemned in a parliamentary report tomorrow – despite fears that the jihadis could be planning a Paris-style atrocity on the streets of Britain.

Members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights are expected to oppose moves to stop UK nationals returning to the country after fighting in Syria and Iraq on the grounds of ‘civil liberties’.

The Prime Minister pledged last year that British jihadis fighting in Syria and Iraq would have their passports cancelled to prevent them returning to the UK. He said the plans would give Britain the toughest anti-jihadi powers in the Western world outside the US, and would ensure fighters were only let back in to the UK ‘on our terms’.

More than 500 Britons have travelled to Iraq and Syria to take up arms with radical groups, and around half of them are thought to have then returned to Britain.

But the committee, which is chaired by Labour MP Hywel Francis and includes Left-leaning peers such as Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, is expected to call for any bans be cleared by a judge. The report is likely to cause anger in Downing Street, where officials believe that the Paris outrage highlights the need for swift and far-reaching action to limit the risk to the British public.

Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said: ‘We believe the Counter Terrorism and Security Bill strikes the right balance in strengthening security whilst protecting civil liberties.’

But Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘When someone has fought for a foreign power, I believe they relinquish all the protection of the British state.’