The Home Secretary has today laid orders in Parliament to make membership of 2 right-wing terrorist groups illegal in the UK.

The orders will proscribe Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) and will recognise System Resistance Network as an alias of the already proscribed group National Action.

Proscription renders membership of a group illegal in the UK. Anyone found to be a member of or offering support to the groups could now face up to ten years behind bars.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

Recent attacks here and in Germany have highlighted the threat we continue to face from violent extremism. We are working to keep the public safe by increasing funding for counter terror police and strengthening the law to keep terrorists locked up for longer. By proscribing these groups we are making it much harder for them to spread their hateful rhetoric.

This decision follows a meeting of the Proscription Review Group, which brings together representatives from the police and other partners to assess the risk posed by groups who may be considered for proscription.

As part of the order to proscribe SKD, the entry for Partiya Karkeren Kurdistani (the Kurdistan Worker’s Party or PKK) will be amended to include Teyre Azadiye Kurdistan (TAK) and Hêzên Parastina Gel (HPG) as aliases.

The PKK has long been considered to be involved in terrorism and these orders will prevent individuals circumventing efforts to counter its activity.