The Government are to ban the radical islamist group called Islam4UK under counter-terrorism laws, the BBC reports.
“I have today laid an order which will proscribe al-Muhajiroun, Islam4UK, and a number of the other names the organisation goes by,” Home Secretary Alan Johnson said. “It is already proscribed under two other names – al-Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect.”
“Proscription is a tough but necessary power to tackle terrorism and is not a course we …

Body scanners will be introduced at Heathrow within three weeks, sniffer dogs will also become more common at British airports as security staff try to detect hidden explosives, and body searches and closer behavioural analysis of passengers passing through British airports will also be stepped up, The Times reports.
Equipment to detect traces of explosives will be installed at all British airports by the end of the year, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said. He added that …

Tories promise to reinstate people’s right to self-defence and allow householders to use reasonable force to defend their families against intruders.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling raised the election stakes on crime by promising law-abiding citizens extra rights to defend themselves. If the Tories win the election, he said, they would tear up the law which lets householders use only reasonable force to defend their families against intruders, Daily Mail reports.

Home Office figures show that more than 1,600 council employees and other civilians, including dog wardens, park keepers and security guards, now have the power to police communities, and in the last 12 months, under the tenure of home secretaries Jacqui Smith and Alan Johnson, there has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of people who have been given the responsibilities, the Independent reports.
The rapid growth in the army of civilians able to impose fines, confiscate property and demand names and addresses has been matched…

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has admitted that Labour played into the hands of the British National Party (BNP) by refusing to debate the effects of immigration, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Johnson said that “rational” discussion about the issue would haved helped undermine the BNP, which have seen their support grow over Labour’s 13 years in power.
The Government’s reluctance to engage with the legitimate concerns of voters about immigration had strengthened extremist parties, he conceded.
Johnson said however …

Town halls will today be banned by law from using anti-terror powers to spy on “bin criminals” and litter louts, the Daily Mail reports.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson says that using controversial Big Brother powers for trivial reasons is undermining faith in the surveillance regime. He will outline legislation preventing councils from using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act unless they are probing a serious crime, which could include commercial fly-tipping or benefit fraud.
It follows a string …

Home Secretary Alan Johnson admitted today that the Labour Government have made mistakes over immigration policy, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Johnson said that some parts of Britain were “disproportionately” affected by immigration, with an influx of new arrivals putting a “strain” on jobs and services. Setting out four key principles for debate, including that all immigrants should learn English, he also accepted that his party had been “maladroit” in their handling of the issue.
Distancing himself from his …

Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times reports.
The right to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate property will be given to town hall officials and civilian investigators employed by organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, the Rural Payments Agency and Transport for London.
The measure, being pushed through by Home Secretary Alan Johnson comes …

The Government is under pressure to explain why police have failed to charge two Libyan men in connection with the killing of WPc Yvonne Fletcher, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were told by an independent prosecutor more than two years ago that they had sufficient evidence to charge two Libyans over the killing of WPc Yvonne Fletcher. Yet the information has not been acted upon and two suspects named in a …

Leader of the most popular party in the Netherlands and Member of Parliament, Geert Wilders, arrived in Britain today after a tribunal overturned a ban against him entering the country.
Wilders was turned away from the UK in February, when then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith considered him a threat to public security and barred his entry to the country. Wilders successfully appealed against the ban and on Tuesday this week, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal ruled there …

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has released a man regarded as one of Britain’s most dangerous terror suspects from virtual house arrest to avoid disclosing secret evidence against him, The Times has learnt.
The man, known only as AF, has been subject to a controversial “control order” since 2006 because of his alleged links with Islamic terrorists. He has never been charged, however, and the evidence for the allegations has never been heard in a public court.
The …

The UK Home Office lowered terror threat level from “severe” to “substantial”, the BBC reports.
The level was raised in 2007, meaning a terrorist attack was “highly likely”. The downgrading means there is a “strong possibility” of an attack, the report says.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said there remained a “real and serious threat” from terrorists and the public would see little change in security measures.
The threat level was last at critical in June 2007, after an …

Home Secretary Alan Johnson suggested today that Labour is preparing for a General Election campaign in April next year, the Daily Mail reports.
Johnson told the BBC that “eight months before a general election”, Labour still has everything to play for.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown must call an election by June 3, 2010, at the latest, but many observers believe that the most likely date is May 6, to coincide with council polls across England.
Mr Johnson’s eight-month …

MPs yesterday approved fines of up to £1,000 for those who fail to tell the passport and identity service of changes in their personal details including address, name, nationality and gender, the Guardian reports.
The fines are part of a package of secondary legislation being pushed through parliament designed to implement the national identity card scheme, and which will allow sensitive personal data on the ID card/passport database to be shared with the police, security services …

British citizens will never be forced to carry ID cards as Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that a trial scheme that was to force some airport staff to carry the controversial cards has been scrapped, the Daily Mail reports.
It means that carrying an ID card will now never be made compulsory for members of the general public.
Insisting that ID cards should be voluntary, Johnson said: “Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for …