Reform MPs have been banned from asking questions about the teenager accused of the Southport stabbing attacks in Parliament, Nigel Farage has revealed, warning it would “shred” confidence in democracy.

Mr Farage accused Sir Keir Starmer of using fear “to shut down a public debate he considers embarrassing”, after Axel Rudakubana was charged with a terrorist offence.

Writing for The Telegraph, the British Reform leader describes how MPs were silenced when they wanted to raise the issue in the House of Commons, including “panicked emails” and phone calls telling them not to ask questions on the case.

He said: “It is impossible to infer anything other than that the state apparatus is being used to manage this situation. »

The announcement that Mr Rudakubana, 18, was accused of possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual and producing the poison ricin sparked a debate over the public’s right to information after the murder of three young girls during a dance class in July.

The attack sparked riots that Mr. Farage and others blamed, in part, on a lack of information from authorities about the suspect’s identity and background, allowing a false version of impose oneself.

Police said at the time that the deaths of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alicia da Silva Aguiar, as well as the stabbings of eight other children and two adults, were not being considered a crime. terrorist incident. Police and prosecutors have not said whether or not the accused had ever been referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism initiative – one of the speculative questions asked by Mr Farage since July.

Mr Farage writes in The Telegraph: “The day after the three Southport murders, I saw that some key facts about this atrocity had fallen through the cracks. This led to unnecessary speculation online. It seemed vital to me that the public knew more…

“I understand the importance of not prejudging a future trial, but in the current climate there appears to be no opportunity to separate the current legal process from the questions I asked over the summer. This is deeply disturbing.

Mr Farage said he submitted a written question to Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, asking whether the accused had already been referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism initiative, but was told by Commons authorities replied that he could not ask questions about it due to the situation. current legal case.

After the new charges were brought against the defendants, police and prosecutors made it clear that the stabbing attacks were not being treated as an act of terrorism.

Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, did not reveal when he and other ministers first became aware of the discovery of terrorist material and ricin allegedly in Mr Rudakubana’s possession.

Mr Farage said that on Wednesday his British Reform colleague, Richard Tice, was chosen to ask Sir Keir a question during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

He writes: “That morning he received three panicked emails from the Commons authorities asking him what the content of his question might be. Then, an hour before family housing was due to begin, he received a phone call telling him not to ask anything about the man accused of the Southport bombings. This point was made vigorously by the Speaker of the House of Commons just before the start of PMQs. Parliamentary privilege has effectively been withdrawn.

“So at this time it appears that no one is allowed to ask in the appropriate forum when the government first knew that the defendant was facing ricin and terrorist material charges.

“Similarly, no one can know whether this man was known to the authorities in any way. Do we really want to live in a society where such crucial information is hidden from the public? Who decided that these details should remain secret?

“I think this apparent repression undermines democracy. This certainly destroys public trust, which makes me wonder: what is the point of being a representative of the public if even we are not allowed to ask questions that would previously have been considered reasonable? It is impossible to deduce anything other than the fact that the state apparatus is being used to manage this situation.”

The government’s terrorism tsar, Jonathan Hall KC, said “more information could have been released safely without leading to possible criminal prosecution”.

Lord Carlile, a colleague and former independent reviewer of counter-terrorism legislation, said that in circumstances such as those surrounding the Southport stabbings, “the police probably need to tell the media who has been arrested and what their origins are”.

Limited in the scope of his questions, Mr. Tice asked the Prime Minister on Wednesday if he agreed that “in the event of terrorist incidents, it is important that the authorities provide more information early to avoid a lack of information.

Sir Keir responded that MPs “can either support the police in their difficult task or weaken the police in their difficult task. I know which side I’m on.”

Mr Farage says Sir Keir’s government “has been very effective in using fear to shut down public debate which it considers embarrassing”, but that it cannot definitively avoid questions which have arisen over the management of the attack on Southport.

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