Priti Patel warns Britain must crackdown on foreign spies in UK

Priti Patel will today warn that Britain must do more to tackle foreign spies operating on home soil. The Home Secretary will tell MPs: "We cannot be passive in the face of malign covert activity designed to interfere with our national security, economy and democracy."

The new National Security Bill will give Ms Patel powers to restrict foreign nationals suspected of working for hostile states on where they can work, study and travel, Express reports. The bill – the biggest overhaul of espionage laws in decades – will return to Parliament today. The Daily Express can reveal the Home Office and counter-terrorism police believe it will result in 50 new investigations as they finally have the powers to tackle foreign spies.

Around one in three of these are expected to result in prosecutions.

The crackdown comes after MI5 warned in January that Christine Lee, a former chief legal adviser to the Chinese embassy in London, was an agent of Beijing.

She had met and was pictured with many prominent UK politicians, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in 2016. Other images show the 58-year-old “spy” with David Cameron when he was prime minister.

As a result, Asbo-style civil measures, called state threat prevention and investigation measures (STPIMs), will be introduced. The legislation will require those working for foreign states to declare it.

The Home Secretary is expected to say: “The chemical weapons attack in Salisbury by the Russian state is just the most obvious of the types of threats we now face, but state threats come in multiple forms. We all have a responsibility to our constituents and our country to keep them safe.”

A new offence of sabotage, with a maximum life sentence, will target foreign agents responsible for cyber or drone attacks on infrastructure or data critical to UK interests.

And the crime category of foreign interference targeted at elections will be introduced, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years. Theft of state secrets will carry the same punishment.

MI5 and counter-terrorism police will also be given new powers to tackle plots at an earlier stage, with investigators able to prosecute those preparing activities.