MPs approve terror offenders law

MPs have approved the emergency terrorism legislation.

It was completed over an hour before the time limit for today.

It will now move to the Lords for its next parliamentary stages after February recess.

The deputy Speaker now asks MPs if they want to approve the bill at second reading.

Several MPs shout "aye", none shouts "no", and so the bill moves to the next stage in the parliamentary process - the committee stage.

During this stage MPs have the chance to examine and debate the bill in detail.

Justice minister Chris Philp is wrapping up the debate at second reading.

He tells MPs that the next terror offender who would be affected by this bill is due for release by end of month.

"That is why we are acting so quickly," he says.

He concludes his speech by saying that the bill contains emergency measures designed to address a specific problem.

"We will, of course, be coming back with a wider set of proposals on counter-terrorism in the next few months," he says.

Conservative James Daly says the bill is "sensible, practical, reasonable, proportionate - it must come in now".

He says it is "preposterous" that terrorists can be released halfway through their sentence.

Mr Daly notes that deradicalisation has been mentioned a lot in today's debate, but says: "I've not heard one sensible suggestion about how it is going to work."

Another Conservative MP, Alicia Kearns, rises to ask if terrorists can ever truly be deradicalised

"The attributes that make someone vulnerable to becoming an extremist never goes away," she says.

Hilary Benn, the Labour MP for Leeds Central, held a Westminster Hall debate on the difficulties faced by homeowners in cladded buildings.

Leaseholders in such properties, Mr Benn said, are being made to pay for fire-safety measures, such as "waking watches" or recladding, when some cannot afford it.

The government's £200m fund to remove cladding, announced in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, only covers buildings with so-called ACM cladding found on the tower and not other types of cladding sometimes deemed a fire risk.

Mr Benn said that if people "bought cars or washing machines that were a fire risk, no one would dream of saying to them 'sorry, you're going to have to pay for this'".

Meanwhile, many properties have lost most of their value due to the unsafe cladding, making it difficult or impossible for leaseholders to remortgage to pay for safety measures or move out, Mr Benn said.

He called on the government to extend the cladding fund to all types of unsafe blocks.

In response, housing minister Esther McVey said the government had accepted all the recommendations from an independent review into fire safety and would be "bringing forward legislation to deliver an enhanced safety regime for high rise buildings".

Labour's Khalid Mahmood supports the bill but raises a number of issues about tackling extremism, including the regulation of madrassas.

Many Muslim children attend madrassas to learn Arabic in order to recite the Koran and understand the principles and practices of their faith.

Mr Mahmood says that often, when deciding whether to permit a madrassa, a local authority's only consideration is whether it will cause traffic congestion.

He says there is rarely proper scrutiny of the people running them.

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Returning to the debate, Labour's Yvette Cooper, the chair of the Home Affairs Committee, tells MPs she supports the legislation, arguing it is "justified and needed".

"If an offender is a danger to the public they should not be released form prison," she says

Ms Cooper also says she accepts the need to do this as emergency legislation, but adds it is not "ideal" for the legislation to be "rushed through".

"There have been many warnings this was coming down the track - the government has known about the problem," she says.

Mr Mullan, who is a former doctor, also uses his maiden speech to speak about a Polish man, Jan, he helped care for.

He explains that Jan's parents were deported from Poland during the Second World War.

Mr Mullan says Jan went on to live a rich life, but had no wife or children and worried if his story would be remembered after he died.

"As a gay man the question of whether I will have children and how I will be remembered had crossed my mind so I felt an affinity with him," Mr Mullan says.

He therefore agreed to help Jan write the story of his life and reads out a particular passage to ensure Hansard will record Jan's story.

He reads out Jan's words: "You can have a happy fulfilled life as long as you do something you feel is important."

Mr Mullan says both MPs and their constituents struggle with "how we fit in with this ever-changing, complicated world".

"We can build infrastructure and create jobs but it all sits in a vacuum if it isn't part of a broader story of a nation and community that people feel a part of.

"Let's make sure our constituents feel their story, however quietly told it is, is important."

...and, BBC England have done a video if you want to learn more:

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There is a pause in the debate of the bill as Conservative MP for Crewe and Nantwich Kieran Mullan makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

Traditionally, these speeches tend to avoid being overtly political. And in common with many MPs Mr Mullan uses his speech to praise his constituency.

More unusually, however, he tells MPs about the constituency's annual world worm-charming championship.

He also says he will ensure upcoming immigration bills protect the rights of international competitors to continue being able to take part "in this important global competition".

Mr Mullan goes on to tell the House about the local rugby club he plays for.

"There is no better way of keeping your feet on the ground by running around with teammates and opposition players who couldn't care less about me being an MP - as the bruise on my cheek testifies to," he says.

Mr MacAskill also asks the justice secretary to give prison officers more involvement in deradicalisation programmes.

"At the present moment their input is very limited," he says.

This, he says, is a mistake, arguing that prison officers can see who is genuinely engaging and "who is pulling the wool over their eyes".

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SNP MP Kenny MacAskill says his party understands "the spirit of the legislation and the need for urgency".

But, in common with other MPs who have spoken in this debate, he calls for broader problems with the management of terrorist offenders to be tackled.

"It is one thing to detain them [offenders] for longer, it is quite another to do something constructive with them when we have them," he says.

"That is the nub of the problem."

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"One shouldn't act in haste unless there is compelling reason," says Sir Bob Neill, who chairs the Justice Committee.

"The reality of blood being shed on the streets of this country is a compelling reason," he adds.

"That makes this legislation necessary and proportionate."

However, he adds that politicians still need to "act urgently" to deal with broader issues, including how to handle those who are radicalised in prison.

Shadow solicitor general Nick Thomas-Symonds says Labour will be supporting the bill.

But he asks why it has come to the point where changes are having to be pushed through with emergency legislation.

"Over the past decade there have been a number of warnings," he says.

He quotes Ian Acheson - a former prison governor who reviewed how extremism was handled - by describing the management of terrorist offenders as "a shambles".

He also accuses the government of "failing to provide the justice department with stable leadership", noting that Mr Buckland is the seventh justice secretary since 2010.

"No wonder there isn't any long term planning," he adds.

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So far in this debate the government is facing little opposition to its plans and Mr Buckland says he hopes the bill will come into force by the end of the month.

But what legal challenges could the law face and how effective might the changes be?

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman has been looking at these questions.

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Former Prime Minister Theresa May says the government must also tackle the ideology that drives terrorism.

"How can the government turn people away from extremism," she asks.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland responds by saying the former prime minister "speaks with unparalleled experience".

He says the government does not take a "blanket approach" to the matter, instead preferring a "case by case analysis".

Labour's Seema Malhotra seeks assurances that the police and probation services will be given the resources to make sure the provisions of the bill are "effective on the ground".

Mr Buckland says the government is doubling "the number of specialist probation officers and introducing more expert psychiatric and imam involvement".

MPs now begin to debate the substance of the bill.

Conservative Sir Desmond Swayne asks how the government would respond if the changes ended up being challenged in the European courts.

Minister Robert Buckland says he believes the "provisions of the bill are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights".

He adds that he is not expecting legal challenges either in the domestic court or in Strasbourg.

At the beginning of the month, two people were stabbed in an attack on Streatham High Street in London, in an Islamist-related terrorist incident.

The attacker, Sudesh Amman, had been freed from prison 10 days after serving time for terror offences.

• Sudesh Amman: Who was the Streatham attacker?

The government responded by promising to bring forward legislation urgently to prevent the automatic release of people convicted of terrorism offences halfway through their sentences.

Under the government's proposals, people given a fixed or determinate sentence for a terror-related offence would be freed only with the agreement of the Parole Board - and after serving at least two-thirds of their term.

The bill was introduced to Parliament yesterday and the government wants the measures to become law by the end of the month.

The aim is to prevent the 28 February release of Mohammed Zahir Khan, who is the next convicted terrorist due to be freed after serving half his sentence for encouraging terrorism.

The bill would affect about 50 prisoners who were convicted under existing rules, which allow for release halfway through a sentence.