UK Home Secretary vows to deport foreigners following Reading attack
The UK's MI5 watch list of terror suspects has doubled in size since last year, reaching 43,000 suspects.
By TOBIAS SIEGALPriti Patel, Britain's Secretary of State for International Development arrives in Downing Street, in London.(photo credit: REUTERS)
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel vowed to deport foreign criminals seeking to abuse hospitality, the dailymail reported on Tuesday. The UK's MI5 watch list of terror suspects has doubled in size since last year, reaching 43,000 suspects. Richard Walton, former head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, told the Telegraph that by all standards, "it is a ridiculously high number." Experts say 90% of the list includes Islamic extremists, according to the dailymail reports. These figures are surprising, considering the fact that Britain's top anti-terror officer Neil Basu, has said in different occasions that right-wing extreme groups are the fastest growing threat facing the UK.The figures are also supported by separate statistics from the Home Office that show that out of 238 peopled held in custody for terrorism in the UK, 183 of them are Islamist extremists, while only 44 are far-right, an increase of 11 from last year. The figures and respective public debate emerged in the days following the terror stabbing attack that took place in Reading, UK, at the site of a Black Lives Matter anti-racism protest on Sunday and killed three people.Following the attack and the watch list of terror suspects doubling, Home Secretary Priti Patel vowed new legislation to remove foreign criminals from the UK, declaring anyone who "abuses our hospitality" would be deported. Patel's announcement is accompanied by the increased funding to counter-terrorism in the UK, raised by £90 million to reach £906 million by next year.
