How ministers’ panic over terror could make the situation worse

The government says keeping terrorists in jail will make the public safer, but the evidence calls that claim into question, Lizzie Dearden writes

Forensic officers in Streatham earlier this week (AFP/Getty)

Next week, MPs are to consider “emergency legislation” that aims to keep terror offenders who were due to be automatically released in prison for longer.

The proposals – which lawyers say may violate the European Convention on Human Rights – were announced a day after the Streatham terror attack.

It was the third knife rampage in just over two months to be launched by a convicted terror offender, following the Fishmongers’ Hall attack and a stabbing by two inmates inside a high-security jail.