The government introduced the National Security (State Threats) Bill to Parliament on Tuesday, opening the door to new powers that could let the home secretary designate state-linked organisations such as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as threats to national security. If lawmakers approve it, the measure could become law within weeks and take effect as early as next month.
The timing matters because ministers want the law in place while foreign states are increasingly turning to proxies to do the work they cannot do openly. The bill would create three new criminal offences: supporting a designated state threat organisation, assisting one, and accepting material benefit from one. It would also allow Shabana Mahmood to designate groups involved in foreign power threat activity, including assassination attempts, surveillance and sabotage.
Jonathan Hall KC suggested the legislation after concluding that it was difficult to ban state-linked groups like the IRGC as terrorist organisations under existing law. His advice has now turned into a bill that ministers say is aimed at a gap in the current system, one made clearer by recent prosecutions in the UK.
Over the last year, men have been convicted of spying on Hong Kong dissidents in the UK on behalf of China, carrying out an arson attack on a Ukrainian warehouse on behalf of the Russian group Wagner, and stabbing an opposition journalist in Wimbledon on behalf of Iran. Those cases have fuelled the government’s view that it has seen unprecedented levels of threat from people and groups working on behalf of foreign states.
That is also where the friction lies. The bill is being sold as a needed upgrade because hostile powers are using intelligence agencies and criminal proxies, but officials have also acknowledged that the National Security Act 2023, passed only three years ago, is already quickly out of date. The result is a second major security law before the first one has had much time to settle.
Starmer said the UK must ensure there are consequences when foreign states threaten lives or undermine democratic institutions, and that hostile actors should not be allowed to pay petty criminals to do their dirty work. Mahmood said foreign states are becoming ever more aggressive, attacking communities, the way of life and institutions while hiding behind proxies. The question now is not whether the government wants tougher powers, but which organisations the home secretary will actually move against first if the bill clears Parliament.
