Ukip leader Paul Nuttall suggests terror suspects should be locked up without trial

'I think we've got to look at ways of ensuring that our people are safe, whether that is a return to control orders, whether that is tagging these people, who knows in the future maybe a return to internment'

Paul Nuttall re-iterated his support for the re-introduction of the death penalty (ITV)

People suspected of committing terrorism offences should be locked up without trial, Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has suggested.

Mr Nuttall said he “wouldn’t take anything off the table” when it comes to tackling the threat from radical Islamist terrorism.

"When you read this morning there's a suspected 23,000 jihadis living amongst us, obviously MI5 are stretched to capacity at this present moment in time," he told the BBC's, The Andrew Neil Interviews.

"I think we've got to look at ways of ensuring that our people are safe, whether that is a return to control orders, whether that is tagging these people, who knows in the future maybe a return to internment."

A policy of indefinite internment was adopted in Northern Ireland by the British Government in the 1970s but was widely considered to have boosted support for the IRA.

Mr Nuttall did not directly call for the policy to be introduced in the UK for terror suspects but said he believed it was something that should be considered.

"If you consider that it costs roundly a million pounds year to have 24/7 surveillance on these people, we're talking a vast amount of money”, he said. "I'm not saying now is the time to return to this, but I wouldn't rule it out.

"I think we've got to look at ways of ensuring that our people are safe, whether that is a return to control orders, whether that is tagging these people, who knows in the future maybe a return to internment."

He added: "I wouldn't take anything off the table in the future because, as I say, unless we get a grip on this what happened in Manchester the other night, which is part of my constituency, could become commonplace. And that's the last thing we want to see."

Mr Nuttall also expressed support for the use of methods including waterboarding during the interrogation of terrorist suspects.

"If we were in the situation where there was going to be an immediate attack and people's lives were on the line, I want to see British families protected,” he said. “I would put their lives over the human rights of any jihadi".

He also re-iterated his support for the reintroduction of the death penalty for terrorists and child killers - but said this was not official Ukip policy.

Mr Nuttall has previously said he would be willing to act as executioner himself. He told Mr Neil he believed child murders like Ian Brady should be sentenced to death.

“People like Ian Brady, who only died last week – it’s cost us £10 million in taxpayers’ money to keep that man alive. If I’m prepared to stand up and say that I believe in the death penalty then maybe I would pull the level on people like Ian Brady.

“I don’t see why British people have to pay so much money to keep someone like that alive.”

Additional reporting by agencies.