Crimes of Violence
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 25 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, if she will take legislative steps to introduce a new offence for (a) acts preparatory to extreme violence and (b) individuals identified as violence fixated.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones
As mentioned in the National Security Strategy 2025, the Government accepts and strongly supports the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s (IRTL) recommendation to consider creating a new offence to capture individuals intending to kill multiple people and planning for such attacks.
As recognised by the IRTL, this is a complex area of law and will require working through difficult legal and ethical issues to avoid unintended consequences. We are considering carefully the best way to close the gap in the legislation.
The Government is also working at pace to understand the causal factors and adequacy of public policy interventions to address the risk posed by individuals fascinated with extreme violence and/or mass casualty attacks, but who do not meet the terrorism threshold.
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