My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, for bringing this issue to the Chamber on Report. He asked very pertinent questions. If he seeks to test the opinion of the House, we shall abstain on this point, but that is not because we do not wish to hear the Minister’s answer—it is because, if we are reforming the Terrorism Act 2000 and the means by which we proscribe organisations, there are perhaps better places for a full and more fundamental review.
I have been on record as supporting the proscription of the IRGC, and I have said that this should not be done without considering the knock-on effects within Iraq and Lebanon. The Terrorism Act 2000 states that it is the Home Secretary who has the specific power to proscribe, so the questions that the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, asked are valid. If this is a Home Office Minister stating that to the House of Commons and it is the Home Secretary’s decision, what is the process by which government will now make decisions on this? I have also repeatedly called for the proscription of the Wagner Group, which is a non-government organisation but clearly has direct links with the Russian Government.
There are, of course, some grey areas. Before we reached this group, I reviewed the whole list of those proscribed organisations, and we have recently proscribed some that are clearly not linked with a Government but are organisations designed to destabilise that country’s Government. However, over the years, there have been other organisations where the lines are more blurred as to whether they are within the framework of aliases or associated organisations, which can be proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, even if they are not directly part of the Government of that nation. It is obviously a large step if we proscribe part of a Government, but, in the past, we have seen that, in many areas, it has not been clear who the Government of a country are. Therefore, the statutory tests that are used, and that need to be satisfied, need to be robust.
I have raised the issue of the Wagner Group since 25 April last year, and I have seen it operating with my own eyes in Sudan—some noble Lords have heard me make this case before—and it is palpably the case that its operations are terrorist in purpose and in nature and that they are directly against the national security interests of the United Kingdom and pose a threat to British nationals and our allies. I called for its proscription last year on 25 April, 23 May, 9 June, 7 July, 15 November and 21 December, and on 26 January this year.
6.45 pm
On 26 January, we raised questions about Mr Prigozhin receiving a licence from the Treasury to circumvent sanctions to receive legal support for a palpably malicious legal purpose. The noble Baroness, Lady Penn, said that she would write to me, and I got the letter this morning—I am grateful for her reply. There was nothing new in it, but there was an interesting line with regard to how the Home Office considers the proscription regime to
“assess if the statutory test is satisfied … taking into consideration several discretionary factors.”
I am curious about whether these factors would meet the purpose of the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, and I hope that the Minister can satisfy us on that.
No doubt the Minister will say shortly that the Government do not routinely comment on the issues, and I understand that case: no Government have in the past, and I suspect that no Government will in future, for good reason. But one question on the IRGC that the Minister can answer is whether, as it is constituted, the IRGC would meet the statutory test of the 2000 legislation. Another question that the Minister can answer today is whether the Wagner Group would meet the
statutory test for an organisation to be considered. If so, we would have a bit more clarity. I hope that the Minister can give us positive news today.