Overview
- The National Security (State Threats) Bill was laid before Parliament on Tuesday and would give the Home Secretary a new power to designate organisations judged to be acting for hostile foreign states.
- Once designated, the bill creates offences that make it illegal to assist, accept payment from, or publicly support those groups, with maximum sentences of up to 14 years in prison.
- Ministers point to a 35% rise in MI5 state‑threat investigations last year and say the measure is designed to disrupt networks linked to Iran, Russia and China, with reporting connecting the group HAYI to alleged Iran‑backed actors cited in US Department of Justice filings.
- The bill models designation on terrorism proscription so the legal burden shifts after listing, but prosecutions may be hard where recruitment is compartmentalised or where defendants unwittingly carried out taskings that they say did not identify a foreign backer.
- Next steps include parliamentary scrutiny and formal designations that ministers expect to number about ten or fewer in year one, a move that could prompt diplomatic tensions and deepen cross‑border police and intelligence cooperation.