BAME people about 70% of those held at UK ports under terror laws, data shows | UK security and counter-terrorism
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Around 70% of the thousands of people stopped at UK ports under counter-terrorism laws from 2021 are from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, according to figures which have fueled fears that the police’s fight against terrorism is institutionally racist.
Figures from police logs, released to the Guardian under freedom of information laws, also show that fewer than one in five people stopped under the same laws during that period were recorded as white.
Campaigners say the figures are proof that anti-terror laws disproportionately affect black and minority ethnic groups. They also say the data casts doubt on claims by police leaders that counter-terrorism officers are dealing with the growing threat of violence from white far-right extremists.
The figures show that of the 8,095 people stopped at UK ports in the last three years under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, 5,619 (69.4%) people were recorded as being of BAME origin. During the same period, 1,585 (19.6%) people stopped under Schedule 7 were recorded as white British, white Irish or other white. Ethnicity was not recorded in 891 (11%) of the cases, reflecting the fact that it is not a legal requirement for the police to record the ethnicity of those stopped.
Police monitoring group Netpol said the breakdown by ethnicity suggested counter-terrorism officers were underestimating the threat from far-right extremism.
Kevin Blow, her campaigns co-ordinator, said the figures also cast doubt on a controversial government review by Sir William Shawcross, which said the Prevent counter-terrorism program was too focused on far-right extremism.
Blow pointed this out 41% of arrests against terrorism in 2021, they were far-right suspects. New figures reveal that in 2021-22, just 17.2% of those stopped at Schedule 7 ports were recorded as white.
However, figures from security services show that between 2018 and 2023, far-right extremism offset about a quarter of MI5’s workload.
Blow said: “The log numbers certainly do not reflect counter-terrorism’s insistence on a rapidly growing threat of far-right violence, which does not appear to have resulted in a significant change in the ethnicity of people stopped at ports of entry.
“If there was a higher level of attention on the far right, you would expect to see a change in the number of white people who are stopped, but they have been pretty consistent over the years.
“Schedule 7 powers are broad and intrusive and decisions about how they are used, without the need for reasonable suspicion, are largely made by white counter-terrorism officers. The lack of oversight and accountability means that the onus is on the police to demonstrate that the use of these powers does not result in unlawful discrimination. Our view is that their repeated refusal to do so is the result of state surveillance mechanisms that are institutionally racist. It is time these powers were abolished.
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Last month, the Guardian revealed that the Metropolitan Police had paid a five-figure sum damages to the French publisher Ernest Moret after being stopped in London on his way to a book fair.
Moret, who was questioned by UK counter-terrorism officers over whether he had taken part in anti-government protests in France, was one of 4,525 foreign nationals to be stopped under Schedule 7 at UK ports between 2020 and 2023.
Blow said: “What these figures demonstrate is that Moret is far from typical: Schedule 7 powers have always been used to disproportionately target people from BAME communities, both British and EU nationals.”
Anas Mustafa, head of public advocacy at campaign group Cage International, called on police to record the religious background of those stopped under the Terrorism Act.
He said: “This new data confirms what we already know about their racist and Islamophobic impact. However, despite evidence showing that the majority of those stopped are Muslim and that the force records religious data, the government has resisted calls for a religious crackdown on those harassed at the borders.
“Schedule 7 is one of the most intrusive and discriminatory of all police powers. We have supported hundreds of British holidaymakers affected by the policy and it is clear that the power is being abused and must be repealed.
A spokesman for the Policing Counter Terrorism Service said: “Schedule 7 is a vital tool for policing and is instrumental in securing evidence to support the conviction of terrorists, gathering intelligence to detect terrorist threats and deter hostile activity in the UK .
“The use of Schedule 7 powers regularly features in some of our most complex and high-risk investigations and prosecutions. We face an enduring terrorist threat from abroad, and while we are witnessing a much greater proliferation of online activity, travel remains an element of the terrorist methodology that provides us with potentially crucial opportunities for action.
“When the powers are used, there are a set of robust safeguards and measures in place to ensure they are used appropriately.”
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