UK to fast-track bill proscribing foreign-state proxies after first NSA2023 China convictions
Security Minister Dan Jarvis told the Commons on 14 May the UK will introduce fast-track legislation giving proscription-like powers to ban organisations acting as proxies for foreign states, citing Iranian state-linked attacks on British Jews and Chinese interference on UK soil. The announcement followed last week's first convictions under the National Security Act 2023 over Hong Kong-directed surveillance and intimidation, prompting the summoning of the Chinese ambassador and an FCDO demand that the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office immediately terminate Chung Biu Yuen's employment. Jarvis said MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing have disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots since 2020, the terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe on 30 April, and £25 million in new funding will go to Jewish-community protection after a Golders Green stabbing and arson incidents.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons on 14 May that the government will introduce fast-track legislation in the coming weeks giving authorities new proscription-like powers against organisations acting as proxies for foreign states. The bill, Jarvis said, "will clamp down on individuals and groups carrying out hostile activity for foreign states, including those who act as their proxies, and … will include new proscription-like powers to ban the activities of state-backed organisations that pose a threat to the UK's national security."
Jarvis set out a threat picture spanning Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorism, Iranian state-linked attacks on British Jews and regime opponents, and Chinese state interference operations conducted on UK soil. He told MPs that MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing have disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots since 2020, including what he called a "chilling ISIS-inspired plot to target Jewish communities in Manchester using firearms."
The catalyst for the legislative push was last week's conviction of two men under the National Security Act 2023 for conducting surveillance and intimidation on behalf of the Hong Kong authorities — the first NSA2023 convictions related to China. "It is simply unacceptable that an employee of a foreign power was conducting a shadow policing operation in the United Kingdom," Jarvis said. The Chinese ambassador has been summoned, the Foreign Secretary is to make clear to Hong Kong's Chief Executive that the activity "was, and will always be, unacceptable in the United Kingdom," and the FCDO has demanded the immediate termination of Chung Biu Yuen's employment at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.
Jarvis also announced a review of the national threat level system, which currently captures only the terrorist threat. The terrorism threat level was raised from substantial to severe on 30 April — severe meaning a terrorist attack is highly likely in the next six months — and the minister said he had initiated the review "to ensure that it remains fully relevant and that we are communicating as clearly as possible with the public about the national security threats we face today."
On funding, the government announced £25 million in immediate new money to strengthen policing and protect Jewish communities following a series of arson attacks and a stabbing attack in Golders Green, bringing total protective security funding to £58 million this year. An extra £140 million was provided for Counter Terrorism Policing last year alongside nearly £600 million more for the intelligence services, taking both to record funding levels.
The proscription bill follows several recent state-security moves, including the UK's decision earlier this week to ban 11 foreign far-right activists from entering the country ahead of a London Tommy Robinson rally — part of a wider pattern of using exclusion and statutory tools to head off perceived hostile actors before they reach UK soil.