MEMBER of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth, Stephen Doughty, has welcomed the Home Secretary’s decision to ban the neo-Nazi group which advocated an attack on Prince Harry last year.

Following a proscription order put before MPs, Sonnenkrieg Division (SD) is set to be banned in the UK making membership of the group illegal and punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Laws which came into force on Tuesday also recognise System Resistance Network as an alias of the already-banned group National Action.

Last June, two members of SD were convicted and jailed for terrorism offences after they called for an attack on Prince Harry whom they called a race traitor for marrying Meghan Markle.

As a member of the House of Commons home affairs select committee, Stephen Doughty said he had made repeated calls to ban Sonnnkrieg Division.

In a Facebook post on Monday February 24, Stephen claimed that the group had been active in Penarth.

He said: “This is a very welcome decision. I’ve campaigned for these neo-Nazi groups to be proscribed for over a year not least given their activities in South Wales and locally in Cardiff South and Penarth - as highlighted by BBC Wales and others like Hope Not Hate.”

The ban followed a far-right attack in the German city of Hanau by 43-year-old Tobias Rathjen, killing nine people with immigrant backgrounds.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Recent attacks here and in Germany have highlighted the threat we continue to face from violent extremism.

“We are working to keep the public safe by increasing funding for counter terror police and strengthening the law to keep terrorists locked up for longer.

“By proscribing these groups we are making it much harder for them to spread their hateful rhetoric.”