The UK's anti-terrorism laws: does their practical use correspond to legislative intention?

Abstract

This article argues that the UK's anti-terrorism laws have, for the most part, been tailored to a particular terrorist threat. In the twentieth century, the main threat to the UK was from Northern Irish terrorism. In the twenty-first century, the threat has predominantly emanated from international terrorism. This article argues that the laws enacted to counter those threats contain specific types of measures which are designed for, and most effectively applied against, one or other type of terrorism, but not both. Despite general concerns about the potential slippage of laws from one terrorism context to another, or about the normalisation of anti-terrorism laws into the ordinary criminal law, this article reveals that laws specifically tailored to suit one particular type of terrorism do not often ‘slip’ in their actual usage to other forms of terrorism. Instead, they are used to counter the particular terrorist threat for which they were designed. This should not, however, be taken as an endorsement of the laws.1