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13th February 2015

The Muslim Council of Britain today expressed its regret at the passing of the latest Counter Terrorism and Security Bill. The Bill has now received Royal Assent, but it runs the risk of, at best, being ineffective in its aim of keeping our nation safe, and at worst, counter-productive. We hope this will be reviewed at the earliest possible opportunity.

In line with a number of civil liberty and community organisations, the Muslim Council of Britain has expressed its deep concern that the Bill involves a perceptible expansion of the government’s powers at the expense of an individual’s civil rights in Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill (confiscation of passports of those suspected of committing terrorist activities, banning the return of British citizens where there is a reasonable suspicion of a risk, reintroducing compulsory internal relocation of terrorism suspects).

The Muslim Council of Britain supported other organisations who highlighted the many weaknesses in this Bill. For its part, the Muslim Council opted to focus its lobbying efforts on those parts of the Bill where our voice might be heard and where beneficial changes may be possible. We hoped that this would be effective in those areas that affect our communities the most.

During the consultation period, the Muslim Council therefore made representations with the aim of limiting the potential negative impact of the Bill by recommending for an “impact on communities” assessment to be included within the remit of the Independent Reviewer and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, and explicit wording in the guidelines to ensure there is no discrimination against Muslims (see links at the bottom of the page here for details of our requests within briefings shared with parliamentarians). This was done through:

  • Response to the Home Office’s consultation
  • Engagement with Conservative MPs, requesting the Home Office’s response to our set of recommendations
  • Meetings and phone calls with the lead Peers in the House of Lords on this Bill across all three main parties, as well as a number of other key Lords

Unfortunately, there has so far been limited success (see here for details) in spite of widespread and cross-party support for the briefings, as demonstrated by the proposal of amendments by Peers in line with the MCB recommendations.

The Muslim Council of Britain now calls on the government to consider all recommendations set out in briefings sent to parliamentarians that have not been incorporated, to be incorporated within the guidelines which are to be released within the next few weeks, and the terms of reference of new Privacy and Civil Liberties Board.

February 13, 2015 in MCB Updates
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