John Baron MP questions Prime Minister over returning jihadists during Lee Rigby statement

MP says intelligence delays must be minimised

Today in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister made a statement following the publication of the report by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee into the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. The report concluded that, although no evidence seen by the authorities at the time could have prevented the attack, there were nevertheless delays in processing some information.

At the beginning of their statements, both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition paid tribute to Fusilier Rigby, and the Prime Minister agreed to meet his family when necessary.

John asked,

“My Regimental Colleagues, whether serving or not, will welcome the comments from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition about Fusilier Lee Rigby, and the Prime Minister’s assurances given to his family.”

“Does he accept that, with hundreds of jihadists returning to this country, one of the key messages of this report is that we must minimise the delay between the obtaining of intelligence on the one hand and acting upon it on the other?”

The Prime Minister responded that some delays are inevitable when seemingly higher priority cases arise, but agreed that this was one of the key lessons from the report.

Afterwards, John said,

“Britain faces a real threat from returning jihadists, as the family of Fusilier Rigby are tragically all too aware. Our intelligence and security agencies must do their utmost to ensure delays in acting upon information are minimised.”