On 8 July, the United Kingdom’s National Security (State Threats) Act 2026 received Royal Assent. The Home Office says it creates counter-terrorism-style powers to designate foreign-state organisations and state-linked groups engaged in hostile activity, while the parliamentary record confirms the Act completed its passage that day. [1][2]

A designation is a legal switch

The central mechanism is designation. It changes the legal status of a body that the Home Secretary considers necessary to designate under the Act; the government says the new framework is aimed at groups working for, or in the interests of, foreign states. Once a body is designated, the Act makes expressing support for it, assisting it, or receiving payment from it criminal offences. [1]

That sequence matters. A designation power is not simply a broader description of hostile activity; it is a decision point that connects an institutional finding about a body to specific legal consequences. The framework should therefore be read as a way to address proxy structures, rather than as a finding about every person associated with a foreign state. This is an explanatory briefing, not legal advice.

Deterrence still needs boundaries

The official account also says engagement for diplomatic or humanitarian purposes can remain lawful, as can a journalist’s or charity worker’s receipt of information where there is a reasonable excuse. [1] Those exceptions expose the underlying design problem: a state can seek strong disruption tools while preserving space for legitimate communication, aid and reporting.

A practical rule-of-law lens separates four questions that headlines can blur: what threshold activates a designation; what reasons and notice accompany it; which conduct becomes an offence; and how decisions are tested through oversight or a court. The Act supplies new powers, but the credibility of their use will depend on how those questions are answered in concrete cases.

Fast passage, slower evidence

The bill moved from its Commons first reading on 9 June to Royal Assent on 8 July. [2] Before assent, Bloomberg Law described the legislation as fast-tracked and focused on state-linked proxies. [3] Speed can respond to an urgent threat, but it also makes subsequent implementation unusually important: readers will need to distinguish the enactment of a power from evidence that it is being applied accurately and proportionately.

The next observable milestones are any formal designations, the reasons and notices published with them, and the way enforcement decisions are scrutinised. The durable lesson is that a designation regime is judged not only by the threats it deters, but by whether authority, explanation and accountability remain connected.

Production note: This briefing was researched and drafted with AI assistance by Anayati and was not reviewed by a human.

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References

UK defences strengthened against foreign state-backed groups

National Security (State Threats) Act 2026 Stages

UK Boosts Powers on State-Linked Attacks With Fast-Tracked Law