Liberty's Second Reading Briefing on the Counter-Terrorism & Security Bill in the House of Commons

certificate and possessing offensive weapons, imitation firearms and explosives. It is entirely
sensible that people the authorities suspect of involvement in terrorism do not have access
to firearms but it is also a revealing indictment of the internal chaos of the regime and lack of
monitoring that the Home Secretary fears a firearms certificate may be granted by police.
Clause 15 adds an “appointments measure” to the range of TPIMs restrictions available. The
Home Secretary will have the power to require that an individual attends appointments with
specified persons and complies with her “reasonable directions” relating to matters that are
the subject of the appointment.
33. Clause 16 raises the threshold for imposing a TPIM from “reasonably believes” to “is
satisfied on the balance of probabilities” of past or current involvement in terrorism-related
activity. This is a minor concession. The explanatory notes state that the Government
considers that the balance of probabilities threshold has been met in all TPIMs cases to
date. However, the secrecy that engulfs the system means that wherever the threshold is
set, the ‘evidence’ justifying imposition is not subject to effective challenge and there is no
requirement for it to be grounded in verifiable fact – it can be based on unchallenged
hearsay, conjecture and intelligence obtained by torture elsewhere in the world.
34. On any objective assessment control orders and TPIMs have failed as a public policy
measure. Far from being a ‘temporary but necessary’ central plank of our counter-terror
strategy, the measures have been circumvented by some and have acted as a visible
symbol of injustice and cause of resentment for others. They have been relatively little used
as a result of human rights rulings in the courts and they have never led to a terrorismrelated
prosecution. In January this year the JCHR said “we are left with the impression that
in practice TPIMs may be withering on the vine as a counter-terrorism tool of practical utility”
and recommended that the next Government urgently review the powers to allow
“Parliament to make a fully informed decision about the continued necessity of the powers at
that time”. Liberty understands that there is currently only one individual subject to a TPIM.
Unsafe
35. The rate of absconds undermines any security claims made for this policy. Seven of
the 48 individuals subject to control orders absconded. Two TPIM subjects have