PEERS have paid tribute to the courage and persistence of Figen Murray, the mother of Martyn Hett, considered one of the 22 people killed within the Manchester Arena terrorist attack on 22 May 2017 (News, 26 May 2017).
She has campaigned for a law — popularly often known as Martyn’s Law — requiring premises of all sizes to take steps to scale back their vulnerability to terrorist attacks (News, 21 May 2021). The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill had its Second Reading within the House of Lords on Tuesday.
The Minister of State on the Home Office, Lord Hanson, described Ms Murray’s persistence as “quite frankly extraordinary” in pursuing the Bill, which seeks to bolster the UK’s preparedness for, and protection from, terrorism. The Government has raised the edge for the scope of the Bill from 100 to 200 people attending an event. The Minister emphasised that its requirements weren’t “one size matches all”.
Baroness Suttie (Liberal Democrat) described the Manchester attack as “utterly heartbreaking. Deliberately targeting children and young people at a concert is beyond evil.” She was considered one of many members uncertain in regards to the threshold increase, in a debate that centred on proportionality.
The cross-bencher Lord Anderson asked: “How much centrally available guidance . . . will add to the common sense of those that operate small venues and know them inside out, particularly when, as is thankfully the case in most places, the chance of a terrorist attack is nearly vanishingly small?”
The Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, said that Martyn Hett had been killed some three minutes’ walk from Manchester Cathedral. The diocese included about 300 places of worship, most of which might find that the Bill directly applied to them. He spoke of the immediate aftermath of the Manchester attack.
“I spoke then of the crucial difference between defiance and revenge. . . Crucially, by being defiant, we didn’t allow the extremists to find out how we lived our lives. We didn’t cower behind our front doors. We didn’t retreat to the protection of those that looked, thought, or believed like us. We got on with our lives while being somewhat more vigilant than before.
“The same principle must lie at the center of this Bill. . . What we enact on this Bill have to be proportionate. It must balance the very real risks that we face with the necessity for us to live as we elect, not because the terrorists seek to dictate.”
Focusing on the expected attendance at an event quite than some technical capability of a constructing was the suitable approach, he said. “Many of my churches are built to carry the most important occasion likely ever to be required. While I pray for the day when every service is as packed because it is on Christmas Eve, I have to be realistic, and all of us must pursue measures commensurate with the numbers that we expect.
“We all have to be fully equipped for the responsibilities that this Bill assigns to us. Given that places of worship across all most important religions form between ten per cent and 20 per cent of the affected premises, at a guess, I ask the Minister for his assurance that His Majesty’s Government will produce guidance specifically to deal with these contexts before the Bill is enacted.”
Baroness May (Conservative) spoke of the “absolute horror” of the attack and of the terrorist who deliberately targeted children and young people. One of her concerns was that “we don’t allow, or don’t see, a situation where venues are almost bombarded by consultants who’re all too keen to advise them on the steps that they must be taking, no matter whether those steps are literally what’s required within the laws or not.”
Baroness Goudie (Labour) referred to the chance to those attending places of worship. “There must be some training, but that must be linked to the police and the local authority. It mustn’t be left to churches and other religious spaces to work out for themselves how this must be done, using private security and other advice.”
Lord Hanson concluded that the contributions of all members had shown “the spirit of this nation and that city to be sure that we have now integration and a positive approach to our society, and that we don’t bow right down to terrorists or their threats but . . . uphold the safety of our people as the primary tenet of excellent government”.
The Bill will now go to Committee Stage.
