http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/world/europe/britain-plans-to-expand-police-powers-with-new-antiterror-legislation.html 2014-11-24 21:44:32 Britain Plans to Expand Police Powers With New Antiterror Legislation The proposed measure would include travel restrictions and would make it illegal for insurance companies to reimburse ransom payments for hostage releases. === LONDON — The British government said Monday that it would introduce legislation giving the police the power to seize the passports of British and foreign nationals suspected of traveling to participate in terror-related activities and would make it easier for security services to track suspects online. The legislation would also make it illegal for British insurance companies to reimburse anyone who provided ransom payments to free hostages. The United States and The home secretary, Theresa May, announced the legislation on Monday in London at the start of what the government calls “Counterterrorism Awareness Week.” She said that Britain had foiled some 44 serious terrorist plots nationwide since 2005, when suicide bombers attacked in London. Ms. May said that 138 people were currently serving sentences for terror-related offenses. She added that 84 “hate preachers” had been barred from entering Britain, and an additional 133 people had been barred on national security grounds and because their presence in the country was “not conducive to the public good.” Ms. May said that plots included efforts to blow up the London Stock Exchange, attack people on the streets, bring down airplanes and murder a British ambassador. Officials would not provide further details of any such plots, but on Sunday, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Bernard Hogan-Howe, said that the London police had Mr. Hogan-Howe did not specify whether the plots were related to the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Some of the participants in the alleged plots this year have not yet been convicted, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said. Mark Rowley, the Scotland Yard assistant commissioner, said last month that the police had made He said the major threat to Britain was now from “extremists home-grown, in our communities, radicalized by images and messages they read on social media and prepared to kill for their cause.” A senior British official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that about half of all continuing counterterrorism investigations were related to people, mostly Muslim, who had traveled to fight in Iraq and Syria with radical jihadists or who were inspired by them. Earlier this year, the Ms. May first raised the possibility of increased police powers at the Conservative Party conference in September. The bill is expected to be put before Parliament on Wednesday, one day after the expected release of a report into the Mr. Rowley said Monday that “the tragic murder of Lee Rigby last year was a stark warning to us all about how real and local the threat is.” The report is expected to clear the security services of significant blame but raise questions about why they did not follow up on evidence that one of Mr. Rigby’s murderers was becoming more extreme. Any new security legislation will bring parliamentary scrutiny, with concerns that new police powers could diminish privacy and individual rights. The law would allow the government to cancel the passports of those suspects overseas, for instance, so they can return only on the government’s terms, and force companies to tell the police, if asked, who was using a particular computer or cellphone at a particular time. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary for the opposition Labour Party, was generally supportive of the legislation. “More should be done to disrupt the travel plans of those planning to go out to fight,” she said, “and those returning should face criminal investigations and prosecutions,” as well as participating in deradicalization programs. “Strong powers should always be balanced by strong checks and balances, should be proportionate to the threat, and effective at keeping Britain safe and protecting our democratic values,” Ms. Cooper said.