Pat McFadden - It was wrong to abolish anti-terror orders

Pat McFadden has called for a review of the Coalition Government's decision to scrap control orders, which had allowed the authorities to move terror suspects away from their homes, place them under curfew and ban them from using the internet.

Control orders were abolished in 2011 after the David Cameron-led coalition expressed concerns that the legislation infringed on the human rights of suspects.

They were replaced with Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures, or TPims, which are a form of house arrest but have only been used on seven occasions.

At the time Mr McFadden said the move was 'a dangerous mistake' and lobbied Theresa May, who was then the Home Secretary, to reconsider.

He said today: “It is time to review the Coalition Government’s decision to abolish Control Orders.

"These were an important mechanism to monitor and control the activities of terrorist suspects and the Coalition Government watered them down.

"The TPims that replaced control orders were much weaker and the Government has shown no appetite to use even these weakened measures."

The Prime Minister has pledged to review the Uk's counter terrorism strategy in the wake of Saturday's terror attacks in London.

Mr McFadden, who is Labour's Wolverhampton South East parliamentary candidate, added: "The police did a fantastic job in London by responding and killing the terrorists involved so quickly.

"But going forward we have to make sure the security services and the police have all the tools – legislative and otherwise – that they need to combat the terrorist threat we face.

"They have a hugely difficult job to do in watching thousands of potential suspects and the legislation needs to keep pace with the threat.

"Abolishing control orders was a serious mistake. Reversing that decision and having strong tough measures to monitor these suspects is overdue."

But Mr McFadden warned that bringing back control orders was 'certainly not' the only element of response needed to counter the terrorist threat.

"This is a much bigger battle against an ideology of hate which justifies killing innocent people in countries all over Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East," he said.

"To combat this there may also be other changes we need to make, either in legislation or the allocation of resources. But this issue of monitoring suspects is crucial in the battle to keep the public safe.

“The Prime Minister says enough is enough and there has been too much tolerance of extremism.

"If those words mean anything she should begin by reversing her wrong-headed decision to abolish control orders.”