Politics
Mahmood’s new bill on national security an “alarming expansion of state power”
Jeremy Corbyn has slammed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s new National Security (State Threats) Bill, branding it an “alarming expansion of state power” that poses a “grave risk” to civil liberties.
The Bill is being fast-tracked through all three readings in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The Bill would amend the National Security Act 2023 to introduce a power for the Home Secretary to designate bodies involved in “foreign power threat activity” by regulation, if they believe it is necessary for the safety or interests of the UK.
The National Security (State Threats) Bill is an alarming expansion of state power, and an escalation of the government’s chilling assault on the right to protest. pic.twitter.com/3izNLrvTL5
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 17, 2026
Mahmood’s new bill is already at second reading in the House of Commons as of Wednesday afternoon.
Mahmood insisted there is a “need for speed” following recent events and “the threats the country faces”.
According to the policy paper on the bill:
Jonathan Hall KC’s report, published in May 2025, highlighted the limitations of the terrorism proscription regime in applying to state bodies and how the National Security Act 2023, as drafted, is less effective at disrupting proxies than foreign intelligence services.
This culminated in Jonathan Hall KC’s recommendation for the Government to introduce a ‘State Threats Proscription-like Power’, equivalent to terrorism proscription, which this power reflects.
Hall, as the Canary has previously reported, is the government’s terrorism tsar and has links to Israel. His father-in-law, Lord Dyson, is a patron of UK Lawyers for Israel.
Mahmood — Groups raise alarm
The backlash is not confined to Corbyn.
The International Development Committee, chaired by Labour MP Sarah Champion, has formally written to Mahmood expressing “serious concerns” that the Bill could have catastrophic unintended consequences for UK-funded humanitarian aid.
Grees4Palestine also posted on X, urging Green MPs, who have not spoken out against it, to do so.
Every MP, at every level should be opposing this authoritarian power grab!@EllieChowns @AdrianRamsay @carla_denyer @sianberry https://t.co/hFs3I4eKWr
— Greens4Palestine (@Greens4P) June 17, 2026
Ashok Kumar, Green Party member and lecturer, said:
Iran is the only country in the world that is materially supporting any resistance to Israeli terrorism – from Lebanon to Palestine to Yemen. They’ve just been the victim of 4 months of imperial terrorism and 50 years of economic terrorism. The only reason they’re being proscribed is because they are the only counterweight to Israel.The only purpose of this law is to support more war crimes against the Iranian people and to round up anyone here who opposes those war crimes under the charge of terrorism.
As the Bill hurtles towards its final Commons vote tonight — and likely enactment — it will mark a major authoritarian shift in British law.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
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