The UK Government has tabled amendments and published further details about the proposed Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) to allay concerns raised by diplomats and business executives.

FIRS was introduced to protect the UK political system from covert foreign influence. Under the proposals as amended, anyone dealing with specified governments would have to register with the scheme and it will become a criminal offence to be a spy.

Critics have said the scheme would lead to unnecessary red tape and stifle the media, while EU diplomats have heavily condemned the FIRS rules. One of the proposed amendments aims to protect journalistic freedoms.

Specified states

Lord David Anderson, a barrister and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, welcomed the constraints on entities wholly owned by specified states such as Russia and Iran, The Financial Times reported. But he warned that the scheme would impose a significant amount of new bureaucracy on a wide range of charities and other civil-society organisations that receive overseas funding.

“This government will do everything in its power to protect the British people from hostile foreign activity and keep our country safe,” said Tom Tugendhat, Security Minister. “The National Security Bill will play a critical role in this. It will give our intelligence agencies the tools they need to protect us and contains important new measures to fight back against hostile activity from foreign states. These amendments will focus the bill on the most serious threats we face.”

The bill will reach report stage in the Lord’s on March 1 and March 7, where it will receive further scrutiny ahead of a third reading. The bill will then return to the House of Commons in line with Parliamentary process and become law later in 2023.