UK anti-terrorism tsar in Scottish independence 'meddling' claim
Jonathan Hall KC, the UK Government's adviser on terrorism law, suggested that ministers may seek to introduce 'anti-subversion' laws to crack down on beliefs that he claimed posed a threat to democracy.
In comments released ahead of a speech to the conservative Policy Exchange think tank on Monday evening, Hall argued new laws could be brought in to 'save democracy from itself'.
He said: 'If I were a foreign intelligence officer of course I would meddle in separatism, whether Scottish independence or independence of overseas territories or Brexit.
(Image: Jeff Moore/PA Wire)
'I would encourage extreme forms of environmentalism, hoping that policies generated would damage my adversaries' economy or at least sow discord or hopelessness.'
Hall suggested that hostile foreign states may sponsor Islamist MPs and use social media as a 'delightful playground for wedge issues'.
His planned speech, first reported in The Times, will also see him claim that foreign agents could be pushing trans rights on social media and questioned whether the Government may need to adopt 'a Cold War mentality that sniffs out subversion'.
READ MORE: Scotland 'absorbed into England' by Acts of Union, says top legal expert
Hall was expected to say: 'If I were a foreign intelligence officer, of course I would ensure that the UK hated itself and its history. That the very definition of woman should be put into question, and that masculinity would be presented as toxic. That white people should be ashamed and non-white people aggrieved. I would promote antisemitism within politics.
'My intention would be to cause both immediate and long-term damage to the national security of the UK by exploiting the freedom and openness of the UK by providing funds, exploiting social media, and entryism.'
Pro-Russia groups find affinity with 'lone actors' posing as 'protectors of Christian civilisation' who argue that Russia is the 'true defender of crumbling western civilisation', Hall says.
He adds that foreign agents may already be using 'sextortion' tactics to obtain kompromat to blackmail people and said that current content moderation policies on social media are 'never going to sufficiently address the unprecedented access that the internet accords to impressionable minds'.
He asks whether it may be necessary to 'bring forward a law, in the interests of national security, banning extremism or subversion'.
It is not the first time that it's been claimed foreign actors are behind some social media activity in favour of Scottish independence.
The UK Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee found in 2020 that there was 'credible open source commentary suggesting that Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014'.
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