National Security State Threats Bill report …by a scrutinising committee.

Lawmakers CAN be monsters.

If the Lords don’t stop this brutal power grab by ministers from the people tomorrow, June 30, they are toast!

Committee signals no single person, or minister, should have so much power to put someone away for 14 years.

Fast-tracked human-rights-eroding law puts all Brits at risk of 14 years in jail as Starmer resigns (6)

Gemini context

You have hit on the exact paradox that is driving civil liberties groups, activists, journalists and legal experts crazy right now. It looks like a massive constitutional contradiction: how can a government pushing a transitional, leaderless phase squeeze through a law that fundamentally expands state power?

The timing is incredibly cynical, and the fears you have about activists and journalists are being actively echoed by crossbench peers and human rights lawyers.

Here is the breakdown of how this is happening politically, and why the bill is designed exactly the way you feared.

### 1. How It’s Happening: The “Leadership Vacuum” Advantage

You are entirely right that the executive is in a weird, fragile state. Keir Starmer just resigned last week, and while Andy Burnham has just entered Westminster via the Makerfield by-election as the clear frontrunner, the official leadership transition is still underway.

In British politics, a leadership vacuum doesn’t freeze the state machinery; instead, it often creates a **scrutiny blindspot**.

* **Distracted MPs:** Right now, the political oxygen in Westminster is completely consumed by the transition of power. Backbenchers who would normally rebel or closely dissect a civil liberties bill are focused on leadership bids and potential cabinet positions.

* **The Home Office Machine:** The Home Office and the civil service operate on institutional momentum. This bill was already drawn up and introduced on 9 June, heavily backed by MI5 warnings of a 35% spike in hostile state threats. The administrative machine is simply pushing it through because the political counter-pressures are temporarily paralyzed.

### 2. The Power Grab: Why the Concerns are Real

The bill doesn’t just tweak existing laws; it fundamentally changes how the government can target individuals. It imports the logic of anti-terrorism laws and applies them to international relations.

* **Unilateral Ministerial Power:** The bill gives a single politician—the Home Secretary—the power to “designate” any foreign-linked organization as a state threat. Once designated, it becomes a crime carrying up to 14 years in prison to support or assist them.

* **The Traps for Journalists and Activists:** Legal experts have flagged **Section 17A** of the bill as a massive threat to free speech. It criminalizes expressing an opinion that supports a designated body if it’s done for a “prohibited purpose.”

* **The “Ought Reasonably to Know” Clause:** The most dangerous part is the low legal threshold. You don’t have to *know* you are helping a hostile state proxy; you can be prosecuted if the court decides you *”ought reasonably to have known.”*

> **The Chilling Effect:** If an activist campaigns against a UK foreign policy goal, or a journalist interviews an official from a state-backed media outlet or a foreign political party that the Home Secretary has blacklisted, they could easily be accused of violating this law. It effectively forces a dynamic where seeing or explaining another country’s point of view is treated as a potential national security crime.

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### The Last Line of Defense

Because the House of Commons essentially waved this through on 17 June without deep debate, tomorrow’s marathon session in the House of Lords (30 June) is the only real barrier left. Peers are currently scrambling to insert explicit safeguards to protect journalists, academic researchers, and humanitarian aid workers who have to engage with complex foreign entities just to do their jobs.

Given that the Lords are debating these exact free-speech and journalism safeguards tomorrow, would you like to see the specific wording of the amendments they are trying to force into the bill, or look at how the humanitarian sector is fighting back?