Mansfield MP says Home Secretary was right to remove ISIS supporter’s UK citizenship

The case of Shamima Begum, the girl who left London for Syria with her friends to join the ISIS ‘caliphate’ in 2015, has sparked rows and discussion about her rights to return to the UK.

Ms Begum left with two friends from Bethnal Green to go and marry ISIS soldiers.

This month, nine months pregnant and following her husband’s capture, she decided to very publicly call for UK forces to come and get her, and to bring her back to Britain.

At the same time she appeared to show no remorse for having left to support a terrorist organisation, said that the Manchester bombing was ‘justified’ and told the BBC she had been raising her late son to be a soldier for ISIS.

There’s been a fierce debate about her rights to continued UK citizenship.

But I for one believe that if you choose to leave the UK and knowingly join and support a terrorist organisation you should not be allowed back.

The idea of risking the lives of British soldiers to go and retrieve her is unthinkable.

But in my opinion so is the risk to people here in the UK of having her return.

Nobody can know her true thoughts or reasons for coming back here, and with all of the contacts and information she now has from her time in Syria in my opinion she is a clear danger to us all.

I was pleased to see the Home Secretary take a firm stance on this, removing her British citizenship and now looking to change the treason laws to close loopholes that might allow terrorists to return.

The first priority of any Government must be to keep its citizens safe, and that means we should not take risks by allowing known terrorists back in to our communities.

The damage she has done to the Muslim community here in the UK can never be undone either.

Ultimately all of our decisions have consequences, and Ms Begum must live with those decisions.