Committee publication · Correspondence · 16 June 2026
Letter from the Security Minister relating to the National Security (State Threats) Bill 09.06.2025
From: Home Affairs Committee
Summary
Security Minister Dan Jarvis informs the Home Affairs Committee that the Government has introduced the National Security (State Threats) Bill on 9 June 2026. The Bill creates new powers to disrupt state and state-linked entities' activities in the UK, responding to a 35% increase in MI5 investigations for state threats in 2025 and more than twenty Iran-backed plots. Criminal offences will apply to those supporting or assisting designated bodies, with penalties up to 14 years' imprisonment.
Key findings
- MI5 reported a 35% increase in individuals under investigation for state threats in 2025, with more than twenty potentially lethal Iran-backed plots tracked over the same period.
- The Bill creates a new power for the Secretary of State to designate bodies engaged in state threats activity, subject to affirmative Parliamentary process, replacing the inappropriate terrorism proscription regime.
- New criminal offences will apply to supporting designated bodies, materially assisting them, or obtaining material benefits, modelled on Terrorism Act 2000 offences, with penalties up to 14 years' imprisonment.
- The Bill reflects the Government's manifesto commitment and Jonathan Hall KC's May 2025 recommendation to adapt terrorism-dealing approaches for state-based security threats.
- Government intends to ask Parliament to expedite legislation passage and offers committee briefing during the Bill's progress through Parliament.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Dan Jarvis MBE MP, Dame Karen Bradley MP, Jonathan Hall KC, Director General of MI5, Secretary of State, Home Affairs Committee
Notable line
“As we have cracked down on foreign intelligence service activity in the UK, states are increasingly turning to proxies to undertake activity on their behalf.”
Key Quotes
“In 2025, the Director General of MI5 said that the UK had seen a 35% increase in the number of individuals under investigation for state threats from the previous year.”
“The Bill provides a new power to disrupt and deter the activities of state and state-linked (non-state) entities and those acting in concert with them.”
“… we can make it impossible for people to advance their malign interests in the UK. That is exactly what this Bill does.”
“… those who provide a platform for members of designated organisations to address UK audiences, those who glorify the malign activities of a designated organisation, and those who provide such organisations with material assistance will face the full force of the law, with penalties of up to 14 years in prison”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗