The King’s speech on 7th Nov 2023 included The Government’s Terrorism Bill. The Bill is commonly referred to as Martyn’s Law, after Martyn Hett who was one of the many killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
The bill includes a range of measures to be put in place to protect the public from terrorist attacks at live events and venues.
There are 2 tiers of venues mentioned in the draft bill:
- Standard – Premises with a maximum capacity of 100 or more people are required to undertake activities such as terrorism protection training
- Enhanced – Premises with a maximum capacity of 800 or more people are required to invest more time into counter-terrorism measures, such as appointing a designated senior officer of the review of venue security
The bill would also introduce a regulator with powers to inspect and enforce the requirements for both tiers. They would be able to issue sanctions and penalties for non-compliance. The fines would be up to £10,000 for those in the standard tier and up to £18m or 5% of the person’s qualifying worldwide revenue in the enhanced tier.
