Strip those who join jihad of passports says top policeman

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe also called for the return of control orders which were used to tightly restrict the movement and behaviour of terror suspects who could not face charges in court or be deported.

Speaking on LBC radio, he said: “Certainly for us anything that either stops them from going or preferably stops them from coming back is a good idea. If it works, we should do that.

“It seems to me it’s a privilege to have a passport and be a citizen of this country, and if you’re going to start fighting in another country on behalf of another state, or against another state, it seems to me that you’ve made a choice about where you what to be.”

Of the estimated 500 or 600 British aspiring terrorists thought to have travelled to Syria, around two-thirds or three quarters are thought to be from London, and Sir Bernard said earlier this month that Scotland Yard is prepared in case a wave of extremists decide to return home at the same time.

He called for a return of “something like” the abolished control orders, which enabled the authorities to tell terror suspects where to live and place them under lengthy curfews.

“They were stopped because the threat was reduced and quite properly they were seen as too intrusive,” Sir Bernard said.

“But I think these things have got to be considered when the drum beat changes, and it’s clear that the drum beat has changed.”

Earlier this week London Mayor Boris Johnson used his Daily Telegraph column to say those who “continue to give allegiance to a terrorist state” should lose their British citizenship, and that the law should be changed so there is a “rebuttable presumption” that those visiting war areas without notifying the authorities had done so for a terrorist purpose.

However, during a visit to India yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg rejected calls for tougher measures to combat the threat posed by returning British jihadists.

He said: “We actually have a number of measures already on the statute book which allow us to keep a very close eye on those people who aren’t in prison, aren’t sentenced, but nonetheless are perceived to be a threat to the United Kingdom.”

IS abducted American woman: Page 15.