THE leader of far-right political group Britain First has been charged with an offence under the Terrorism Act after refusing to give police access to his phone, it was revealed today.

Paul Golding was stopped at Heathrow airport in October on his way back from a trip to the Russian Parliament in Moscow by officers from the Met’s counter-terrorism command.

He refused to give the pin codes for a number of his devices.

Mr Golding was later charged with refusing to comply with a duty under Schedule 7 of the act.

He is due to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court next Thursday.

In a statement Mr Golding said that he was not a terrorist and described the charges as “an abuse of legislation.”

Schedule 7 allows police to interrogate, search and detain anyone for up to six hours at British ports, airports and international rail stations.

It is designed to determine whether an individual is involved in the “commission, preparation or instigation” of acts of terrorism.