THE UK Government is in a race against time to get emergency legislation through Westminster to stop more convicted terrorists being released early following the weekend attack in Streatham, south London.

Boris Johnson has set a target of February 27 to complete the Bill’s passage to prevent the automatic release of any further terrorists.

A Whitehall official said: "If the legislation is passed by February 27, we can prevent the automatic release of any further terrorist suspects who might pose a threat to the public."

It is understood one offender is due for release on February 28 with around five expected to be let out in March unless the new law is in force.

The Whitehall official said the Streatham attack had highlighted an issue surrounding terrorists with relatively short prison sentences.

"There aren't many terrorist offenders who will be in that similar kind of scenario but if there are any, then that's too many and that's what we are looking to fix," the official explained.

The Government plans to introduce the legislation in the Commons on Tuesday next week with the aim of clearing the House by the time it rises for its mid-term recess on Thursday.

The bill will then go to the House of Lords on February 25 with the aim of getting Royal Assent on February 27.

"There are no terrorist offenders who are due to receive automatic release before that date," the official said.

He stressed the Lords - where the Government does not have a majority - should “carry out its scrutiny quickly" as "we cannot continue to be in a position where the state has no power to block the release of terrorists who continue to pose a threat to the public".

The official noted how the new law would cover the whole of the UK but added: "We will certainly be discussing with the Scottish Government how best to implement this."

Convicted terror offender Sudesh Amman stabbed two people in the Streatham attack. He was convicted in November 2018 after pleading guilty to disseminating terrorist material. The 20-year-old was jailed for three years and four months but released automatically less than halfway through his sentence on January 23, just 10 days before his attack.

Neil Basu, head of UK counter-terrorism policing, said he and his colleagues backed the Government’s plan to keep offenders in prison for longer.

"With 3,000 or so subjects of interest currently on our radar and many convicted terrorists soon due to be released from prison, we simply cannot watch all of them, all the time,” he declared.

"Part of the solution must be ensuring that those who pose the greatest threat to our society are removed from it.”

Answering questions from the public on his Facebook page, the Prime Minister stressed society had to find ways of rehabilitating criminals, "of helping them out, of making sure they don't commit crimes again”.

Noting how there were more than 200 convicted terrorists due to be released shortly, Mr Johnson said: "The problem with them is it is very, very difficult to say they've been properly rehabilitated; it's very hard to tell.

"We need to do a lot more work on finding how to ensure people who have become, as it were radicalised, don't come out prematurely. It's a very difficult thing you've got to get it right for the protection of the public," he added.

Earlier, Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, responded to questions about how Sudesh Amman, the terrorist who carried out the Streatham attack, was able to stab two people while under close police surveillance, saying such covert surveillance was not "man-to-man marking".

She told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee: "I wish I could assure the public that everybody who poses a risk on the streets could be subject to some sort of thing that would stop them being able to stab anybody ever but it is clearly not possible."