Britain readies new spying law after Salisbury poisoning
Home secretary Sajid Javid says updated legislation is needed to tackle threats when the UK leaves the EU
London — Britain is preparing to bring in a new spying law and is considering updating treason legislation to counter the threat from hostile states in the wake of the nerve-agent poisoning in Salisbury in 2018, home secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday. Javid said the moves were necessary to cover “real gaps” in existing laws, saying it was important that Britain had the powers to address threats for when it leaves the EU. “The conclusion of the Cold War was not the end of state-on-state threats that many had actually predicted. Salisbury was a sharp reminder of that,” he said in a speech at London police’s Scotland Yard headquarters. “Getting this right and having the right powers and resources in place for countering hostile states must be a post-Brexit priority.” Plans for a new Espionage Bill come after the Novichok poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in southwest England in March 2018 for which Britain has blamed Russia.
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