The justice secretary Robert Buckland has said emergency legislation is needed to ensure convicted terrorists are not automatically released from prison after serving half their sentence.
In the wake of the Streatham terrorist incident on Sunday where Sudesh Amman was shot dead by armed police officers, he said the Parole Board needs to review cases before they are released.
The Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove said the government will change the law “as early as possible.”
Speaking on Sky News with Kay Burley on Tuesday said the government will work with all parties in parliament “in order to make sure that the laws are ready, that they’re shipshape and that we can be absolutely certain that people who would otherwise be released early stay behind bars so the public are protected.”
Gove added that terrorists should be locked up in prison indefinitely, “if necessary.”
He said, “We need to be able to prove that people are no longer a danger to the public.
“If you have people who are in the grip of an ideology, that ideology means they want to kill innocent people in order to advance a particular religious and political view, they are a danger to society.
“Until we know that they are comprehensively de-radicalised and that it is safe to have those people on our streets then public protection must come first.”
On Monday Buckland told the House of Commons, “Yesterday’s appalling incident makes the case plainly for immediate action.
“We cannot have the situation, as we saw tragically in yesterday’s case, where an offender – a known risk to innocent members of the public – is released early by automatic process of law without any oversight by the Parole Board.
“We will be doing everything we can to protect the public, that is our primary duty.
“We will, therefore, introduce emergency legislation to ensure an end to terrorist offenders getting released automatically having served half of their sentence with no check or review.”
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