A video grab image shows British Prime Minister Gordon Brown talking during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London yesterday. At left is Justice Minister, Jack Straw and at right is Foreign Secretary David Miliband. - Reuters LONDON (AP):
Britain will review the recruitment of health service staff and expand checks on immigrants taking skilled jobs following terrorist attacks linked to doctors, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday.
In his first appearance at the weekly House of Commons session where the Prime Minister faces lawmakers' questions, Brown said the background checks performed on skilled migrant workers coming to Britain would be increased.
"As a result of what has happened in the National Health Service, I have asked Lord (Alan) West, the new terrorism minister, to conduct an immediate review as to what arrangements we must make in relation to recruitment," Brown said.
Car bombing attempts
All eight of the suspects arrested following car bombing attempts in London and Glasgow were em- ployed or previously employed by Britain's National Health Service.
The suspects include one doctor from Iraq and two from India. There are also a physician from Lebanon and a Jordanian doctor and his medical assistant wife. Another doctor and a medical student are thought to be from the Middle East.
Brown said Britain would also try to expand the 'watch list' of potential terrorists so that authorities in other countries could be warned of possible threats, and that he hoped there could be all-party agreement on the measures.
Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, said Britain was considering whether there was a need for a more structured, formal international list of people who are security concerns.
"We need to find a better way of coordinating how these 'watch lists' are compiled," he said. Ellam would not say if any of the suspects were on a foreign watch list.
Ellam said Brown had spoken with U.S. President George W. Bush, NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in recent days, but would not discuss the focus of the conversations.
During the question session in the Commons, Brown was pressed by opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron on whether he would ban the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Cameron said has urged people to kill Jews.