Campaigners call for support scheme for victims of terrorism

The Survivors Against Terror campaign group has urged Home Secretary Priti Patel for a state-funded support scheme for those who survived or were bereaved by terrorist attacks.

Brendan Cox, widower of the murdered MP Jo Cox, is meeting Patel to stress that granting terror victims minimum guarantees of support should be a key part of the UK’s counter terrorism strategy.

Cox said state systems for terror survivors in France and Belgium were currently putting the UK to ‘shame’. He pointed out that French citizens injured in the London Bridge attack opted to use the French government system because it is ‘more efficient and more generous’.

Speaking to the Guardian before the meeting, he said: “Whenever a terror attacks happens, ministers get up and talk about how we will look after the survivors, but in reality that isn’t happening.

“This shouldn’t be left to the lottery of charity. The shift that we’re calling for is one where there are minimum legal rights. That needs to happen quickly, because we don’t want another generation of survivors to go through what the survivors of the Manchester attack or London Bridge attack had, which was just a completely inadequate.”

The group will present the government with a proposed terrorist survivors’ charter that guarantees them immediate financial support, rapid access to psychological support and a compensation fund. The eight-point charter also includes guaranteed legal support and a national memorial day for terrorist survivors.