This is really chilling:

“Britain’s security agencies and police would be given unprecedented and legally binding powers to ban the media from reporting matters of national security, under proposals being discussed in Whitehall.

The Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary watchdog of the intelligence and security agencies which has a cross-party membership from both Houses, wants to press ministers to introduce legislation that would prevent news outlets from reporting stories deemed by the Government to be against the interests of national security.”

The existing, voluntary system works pretty well. Nor would such stringent rules necessarily make Britain safer, as surely the security services benefit from scrutiny. Oh, and does anyone believe that these powers would only be used for national security matters, when we have seem how anti-terrorism acts have been used?