Benn signals harder line on powers for security services

Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn has said that there needs to be a “grown up debate” about what powers the security services have to monitor potential terrorists. Following Friday’s attack in Tunisia, which killed 39 people (including 30 British tourists), there have been renewed calls for greater powers to monitor potential terrorists.

Speaking to the BBC, Benn said that the law about what powers the security services have “clearly needs to be updated; it needs to be brought together in one place”.

He added:

“To take the example of the man responsible for the murders in Tunisia, suppose that had happened here and he was completely unknown to the security services and the police, the first thing they would want to do is say, ‘Who have they been in touch with’,” he told the BBC.

“If there isn’t the data to draw upon to discover who he had been communicating with, then it would make the task of uncovering any co-conspirators or networks much more difficult.”

This could signal a return of the ‘snooper’s charter’, which would require mobile and internet companies to store information about phone calls, emails and internet searches made by UK nationals. It was proposed by Theresa May last year but was opposed by the Lib Dems. If the bill were to come to a vote in Parliament, it would likely need support from Labour to pass – and Benn’s comments are the closest to a suggestion yet that the support could be forthcoming.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has this morning said that tackling extremism needs to be a priority for the next G20 meeting. She says more needs to be done to defeat the ideology that drives groups like ISIS. The Labour leadership contender said:

“Following the appalling attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France, we need to agree an international plan to tackle extremism. This should be top of the agenda for the next G20 meeting in November. 

Domestically, Cooper believes that the government’s Prevent strategy should be “overhauled”.