UK ‘struggling’ with extremism, says report
Government review finds that Islamists and far-Right groups pose a distinct threat to social cohesion
TOWNS and cities across Britain are “struggling” to deal with extremism being whipped up by Islamists and the far-Right, an official report will warn this week.
A review by Dame Sara Khan, the Government’s adviser on social cohesion, has concluded that in some areas there is “no infrastructure in place” to tackle a triple threat of conspiracy theories, disinformation and harassment that poses a threat to democracy.
A new cross-Whitehall “cohesion response unit” could now be created by Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, in response to the report, as part of a social cohesion and extremism plan being drawn up by Mr Gove’s officials.
The plan follows the publication of the Government’s new definition of extremism, which sources said was a “first step” needed to tackle extremist behaviour and improve “democratic resilience”, amid concerns about groups attempting to subvert democracy.
Dame Sara’s report states that a cohesion response unit, staffed by policing, education and counter-extremism officials, was needed to tackle “early tensions” and “live flashpoint incidents” in local areas before they spiral out of control. Dame Sara, a former commissioner for countering extremism, is also expected to call for conflict resolution training for local authority officials and councillors, and the hiring of specialist staff who can help councils to improve social cohesion.
Mr Gove is understood to back the majority of Dame Sara’s 15 recommendations contained in a report for the Communities Secretary and the Prime Minister, which is due to be published this week.
They include putting in place a plan to tackle what Dame Sara describes as “freedom-restricting harassment” – threatening, intimidatory or abusive harassment in person or line that is intended to “make people or institutions censor or self-censor out of fear”.
Dame Sara held 30 meetings with local authorities across the country and 46 with civil society groups. Her report states: “During these meetings, [Dame Sara] repeatedly heard how local authorities and responders were struggling to deal with contemporary social cohesion threats, including disinformation, conspiracy theories and evolving extremist tactics.”
The report cites Oldham, Barrow-in-Furness and Stoke-on-Trent as examples of areas struggling with social cohesion and extremism activity, saying that the examples “demonstrate a common problem of a lack of capability and no established infrastructure to help local leaders deal with destabilising activity”.
It adds: “This lack is representative of a wider systemic problem that leaves similar towns and cities across the country ill-equipped to respond to serious tensions, disinformation and extremism.”
In Stoke-on-Trent, a combination of far-Right and Islamist extremist activity “is creating a permissive environment for radicalisation and the mainstreaming of extremist narratives within communities”, the report warns.
“Despite Stoke-on-Trent having significant extremism activity, it no longer receives counter-extremism or Prevent funding – exposing the gaps in existing social cohesion and counter-extremism strategies.”
Dame Sara cited the town as among several areas suffering from “a common problem of a lack of capability and no established infrastructure to help local leaders deal with destabilising activity. This lack is representative of a wider systemic problem that leaves similar towns and cities across the country illequipped to respond to serious tensions, disinformation and extremism”.
In a second example, Dame Sara highlighted Oldham, where riots broke out in 2001 amid racial tensions between white and Asian youths.
She was told that “ethnic residential segregation persisted” in the town, where 24.6 per cent of residents identified as Asian or Asian British in the 2021 census. The town had to deal with “persistent threats to social cohesion”, with “divisive actors” continuing to fuel tensions. In recent years such figures had included Tommy Robinson, the English Defence League founder who visited the area in 2019, along with “direct action” by pro-Palestine groups.
Dame Sara warned that, while the council had been at pains to “prioritise social cohesion efforts... the challenges it faces today from conspiracy theories and disinformation as well as freedom-restricting harassment are undermining local democracy”.
Local leaders said that “massive democratic disruption” was being caused by divisive individuals and groups, “inducing a climate of fear and incitement”.
One illustrative example in Oldham related to false allegations being spread on social media about a purported attempt by the council to cover up crimes by grooming gangs. An independent review in November 2019 found that, while safeguarding practices were inadequate, there was no evidence of a cover-up.
Despite this, groups flooded the town with leaflets making incendiary claims and in 2021 a former council leader was targeted in an online campaign falsely labelling him a “corrupt paedophile-protecting politician”.
Earlier this month, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission, warned that integration appears to be “failing” following a decade of increasing migration.
Mr Gove named three Muslim groups and two far-Right groups, which will be assessed on whether they meet the Government’s definition of extremism. Its definition is intended to ensure it does not provide funding to groups that “advance extremist ideologies”.
‘Local authorities were struggling to deal with conspiracy theories and evolving extremist tactics’