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Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

The hon. Gentleman is pressing me to stray into inappropriate areas, given the risk of revealing intelligence. It would be invidious to single out organisations as being strong or weak, as we are engaged in a fight against terrorism. The information in the explanatory memorandum attempts to be as clear as possible about the extent of activity. Most of the organisations do not have a formal representative presence, but a number of people in this country support them. That is as far as I can go in trying to answer the hon. Gentleman’s question. We are seeking to proscribe the 15 international terrorist groups that appear in the explanatory memorandum. We have sought a shortened timetable to try to ensure that the power is as effective as possible by not allowing the proposed groups time to move resources out of the country or to change their names to evade the powers in the Terrorism Act. If we support the order, it will go to the other place this afternoon and will come into effect tomorrow. I accept that that is a short time scale, but there are genuine reasons for it. Hon. Members will note that most of the groups are active in south Asia, specifically Pakistan, but Ansar Al Sunna and Ansar Al Islam are active in Iraq. The Libyan Islamic Fighting group and the Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain mainly target their activities against their respective countries, and Al Ittihad Al Islamia is based in east Africa. A range of organisations are therefore subject to the order. It is clear from the evidence put before the Home Secretary that all those groups are active in terrorism and have linkages to the network of organisations associated with al-Qaeda. They have been chosen because the security and intelligence agencies have advised us that they are the highest priority at the present time. The Government have every confidence in the work of the agencies and we think that they are doing an excellent job in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.