New police powers to 'close the gap' on violent attackers without terror links
Yvette Cooper said the powerful new tools would ensure the planning of mass attacks was taken "as seriously as terrorism".
The new powers, including the ability to apprehend suspects before they carry out attacks, aim to "close the gap" between terror suspects, who can be jailed for life for planning attacks, and individuals not driven by a particular ideology.
Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's State of Terror series: 'There is a gap in the law around the planning of mass attacks that can be just as serious (as terrorism) in their implications for communities, their impact, the devastation that they can cause and the seriousness of the crime.
'We will tighten legislation so that that is taken as seriously as terrorism.'
She said legislation would be similar to that which allows police to arrest terror suspects for steps taken to prepare for an attack, such as research, which is not currently available without links to an ideological cause.
'We've seen cases of growing numbers of teenagers potentially radicalising themselves online and seeing all kinds of extremist material online in their bedrooms,' she said.
'We have to make sure that the systems can respond while not taking our eye off the ball of the more long-standing ideological threats.'
Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana, who killed three girls at a dance class, is among the individuals who could have been covered by the legislation.
Had police found he had been plotting a target before the attack, they could not have arrested and charged him with a serious offence because he had no ideological motive linked to the definition of terrorism.
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The Independent
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