Blair heralds radical powers to deport extremists
Mr Blair warned to “let no one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing” in the wake of the London bomb attacks.
The Home Secretary will have greater freedom to exclude and deport foreigners preaching hate and violence.
And a series of other measures will also target home-grown fanatics, Mr Blair announced.
If necessary, MPs will be recalled from their lengthy summer break and Britain could renounce parts of the European Convention on Human Rights to ensure deportations take place, the PM pledged.
“Coming to Britain is not a right and even when people have come here staying here carries with it a duty,” he said.
“That duty is to share and support the values that sustain the British way of life.
“Those that break that duty and try to incite hatred or engage in violence against our country and its people have no place here.”
Mr Blair also said he was proscribing two Islamic groups: “We will proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir and the successor organisation of Al Muhajiroun.”
Mr Blair outlined 12 action points to combat extremism in a pre-holiday press conference at Downing Street.
Clerics coming in to preach at British mosques will have to be vetted to ensure they do not pose a threat while those already there who do will be deported.
The new arrangements will be repeatedly tested in the courts but if they are not accepted then Britain’s interpretation of the convention could be changed, Mr Blair said.
The Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement it was concerned and alarmed by Mr Blair’s comments.
Banning groups like the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir was “certainly not the solution” and could be counter-productive, Secretary-General Iqbal Sacranie said.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said: “I support laws banning people or organisations that support terrorist attacks such as we saw on July 7.
“I also support measures against those who incite racial or religious hatred.”
Amnesty International called on British authorities to ensure human rights were central to any new anti-terror legislation or measures introduced as a result of Mr Blair’s announcement.
In a statement, the human rights group said: “It is right and proper that the UK Government takes action to prevent further brutal and callous attacks such as those that took place in London on July 7, 2005.
“But security measures have to be based on human rights if they are to be effective, and we will be looking very carefully at the government’s proposals.”
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group, Liberty, said that if the authorities had evidence that people were seeking to incite terrorism they should be prosecuted through the British courts.
“Shuffling people off around the globe is not an answer to national or world security,” she said.
“It is how we begin to shut down the very democracy that we say we are seeking to defend.”
However, many of the measures were welcomed by mainstream Muslim groups.
Omar Farooq of the Islamic Society of Britain said: “We are frustrated to the bone with some of these people in the name of our great religion, in the name of our way of life, going day after day and causing damage to our way of life here,” he said.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
