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The National Security (State Threats) Bill

The National Security (State Threats) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 9 June. It had all its stages in the Commons on 17 June. In the Lords it had second reading on 23 June and remaining stages on 30 June.

The bill would allow the government to designate organisations as being associated with foreign state threat activity, and make it an offence to support or benefit from them. This is based on a similar power to proscribe terrorist groups.

State threats

State threats are defined by MI5 as “overt or covert actions by foreign governments which fall short of direct armed conflict with the UK but go beyond peaceful diplomacy and expected statecraft to harm or threaten the safety or interests of the UK or our allies”. They include activities such as espionage and sabotage.

There has been a significant increase in state threat activity in recent years and MI5 now considers it to pose a threat equivalent to, or greater than, the threat posed by terrorism.

The National Security Act 2023 reformed existing outdated offences and created new measures aimed at tackling state threats in light of the growing threat.

Proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000

The Terrorism Act 2000 allows the Home Secretary to proscribe by regulation organisations involved in terrorism. If an organisation is proscribed, it is an offence to be a member of it, support it, or wear clothing or display articles indicating support for it. To date the powers have not been used against state bodies and it is unclear whether that would be legally possible.

In 2025 the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism and State Threat Legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, reviewed existing counter terrorism powers to determine if any should be emulated or adapted to deal with state threats.

He recommended that the government should introduce a new power to issue “Statutory Alert and Liability Threat Notices” against foreign intelligence services, equivalent to proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000.

What would the bill do?

The bill would amend the National Security Act 2023 introduce a power to designate bodies involved in foreign power threat activity.

The Home Secretary would be able to designate bodies by regulation if they believe it is necessary for the safety or interests of the UK.

The bill would create three new offences associated with designation, of supporting, assisting, or receiving material benefit from, a designated body. The offences would carry sentences of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.   

There would be a process for applying to remove a designation and to have any associated convictions quashed.

The bill would come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent, and would extend to the whole of the UK. No legislative consent motions are required as the subject matter of the bill is reserved.

Lords amendments 

The House of Lords amended the bill to add a defence to the new offences of assisting or obtaining material support from a designated body for those carrying out humanitarian activites. The amendments were tabled by Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat), with the support of Lord Anderson (Crossbench). They were accepted by the government and passed without a division.

Jonathan Hall KC wrote a note accepting that there may be a need for a further defence of this kind following second reading in the Lords.  

Fast track procedure

The government indicated that it would ask Parliament to expedite the Parliamentary progress of the bill, as it says the powers in the bill should be made available as soon as reasonably practicable. 

Bill documents

Information regarding the bill, including the bill (as introduced), explanatory notes, the human rights memorandum, impact assessments, and the delegated powers memorandum can be found on the UK Parliament website

The government has also published an overarching factsheet on the bill.

Further reading

The following Library briefings provide relevant background to the bill:

• Proscribed terrorist organisations
• National Security Bill 2022-2023
• National Security Bill 2022-2023: Progress of the Bill
• Iran state threat activity in the UK
• Chinese state threat activities in the UK

The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism and State Threat Legislation’s report on the subject is also relevant: Legislation to address state-based security threats to the United Kingdom (PDF)

The Lords Constitution Committee has published a report and the Joint Committee on Human Rights wrote to the Home Secretary about the bill.