Antisemitic Attacks
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Hanson of Flint(3 days, 2 hours ago)
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Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I condemn those people who have a perverted view of the faith of Islam and undertake this action against the Jewish community. I grew up in the 1970s, when the National Front and the British National Party, right-wing organisations, had a hatred of the Jewish community and undertook activities against it as well. It is important that we tackle antisemitism from whichever source it comes. There will be people today relishing antisemitism who are not from the Islamic community and are not extremists, while others will take that forward in a way that is unacceptable. Our job is to make sure that we tackle that extremism from wherever it comes, and that is why we will take action against right-wing extremism as well as Islamist extremists. People have a right to follow their religion and live their lives as they wish, free of intimidation, and it is the job of government to offer that protection.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the strong Statement and pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Wolfson. He made the important point that we must attack and tackle all forms of extremism. As someone who has served in government, in the Foreign Office and at the Home Office as the Minister for countering extremism, I know that there are people who hijack the faith of Islam that I—and millions, indeed billions, around the world—follow. The distinction between Islamists and Islam must be made very clearly. May I suggest dealing with the sources and looking at the philosophy that drives these extremists? The al-Banna philosophy and the Maududi philosophy embed these forms of extremist actions. While I welcome those who are involved and engaged in fighting this, we need a whole-country approach, a whole-faith approach and a whole-community approach to ensure that voices from the British Muslim community are included. In that way, we fight this at source. I am sure that the Government would find support by banning, first and foremost, preachers of hate who come to our shores and use our liberal laws to instil fear and carry out the attacks that we have seen on our streets, particularly against the Jewish community.
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I welcome the noble Lord’s comments. The vast majority of people who follow the religion of Islam want to live in a cohesive, co-ordinated society where everybody accepts, understands and tolerates each individual’s religion. That social cohesion is vital and the strategy that the Government are bringing forward, backed by £800 million of taxpayers’ resource, specifically identifies the threat of Islamist extremism but tries to put it into a context of supporting the vast majority of people of the Muslim faith to ensure that they are part of a socially cohesive society.
We will look at the evidence of who has been committing these offences and/or who has been behind them. We have banned some hate preachers and are looking at how we can build a global alliance against them. We will take action when we know who ultimately has organised this once the police have carried out their investigations. That needs to be done more slowly.
Southport Inquiry: Prevent Programme
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Hanson of Flint(2 weeks ago)
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Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
As I mentioned, we have established a separate working group of officials. They are looking not just at the recommendations for advice for Ministers but at the type of individual and at the incident that occurred. They will test with police forces and others why and how that incident in Southport occurred. That working group is looking not at the ideological issues but at individuals who are obsessed with violence, which was the potential motivating factor of the Southport attack. We are very cognisant that, pending the recommendations being examined and reported back on, any individual at any time can undertake serious violent action motivated by their love and desire to be involved in such action.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, early intervention on those individuals who may be defined or identified as extremists is vital. Previously, as the Minister will be aware, we have had a Minister for Countering Extremism and a strategy. What work is being done in that regard to ensure that early identifiers on individuals can be put in place? Is the Extremism Analysis Unit, which was previously established in the Home Office, still active? Many of those who are coming under the influence of extremism are influenced online.
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
The noble Lord mentions an important point: we are very cognisant of online radicalisation, and the Home Office is looking at what steps we can take to improve the take-down of difficult sites and to look at tracing back those sites. We are continually monitoring the whole issue of counterextremism and how that works, both through my colleague Ministers and through the security services. We will continue to monitor our support and Prevent mechanisms. Prevent has helped around 6,000 people not to go into extremist activity in the last nine years. It is a good programme but, as I have mentioned, we have tweaked it based on the experiences of what happened in Southport in the very early days of this Government.
Sydney Terrorist Attack
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Hanson of Flint(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I am grateful. It is important that we recognise that the Government have a responsibility in this area, but so do we all. We all have a responsibility to have no tolerance of antisemitism and racism. I will work with anybody, through the powers that we have in the Home Office, to look at how we can improve performance on those challenges. We need to ensure that, from school age through to universities and people in the workplace, intolerance is simply not accepted. I will do what I can to make sure that the Home Office responds to those challenges and looks again at what we need to do to help protect the Jewish community in the United Kingdom.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest as the vice-chair of the APPG on Counter Extremism, and the fact that I was the UK’s first Minister for Countering Extremism. As my noble friend on the Front Bench said, we have repeatedly failed. I join others in sharing his loss, but that is not enough—specific action is required. Some suggestions have been given. I welcome the Minister’s call, and I am sure that there are many across the House who want to work with him on this objective. There are specific actions we can take. For example, let us join the Home Office and the Foreign Office together, ban extremist preachers at source, and not issue those visas. We cannot let this poisonous ideology destroy what we have built over centuries: not just a tolerant society, but a coherent society that is respectful of all faiths and none.
United States: Intelligence Sharing
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Hanson of Flint(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
It is important that the UK independently gathers intelligence. The Five Eyes partners of the UK—Australia, Canada and New Zealand—are critical intelligence-gathering partners. The UK is better and more secure because of that arrangement.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I welcome the reassurance on the Five Eyes partnership, and I commend the Minister on his versatility and adaptability in taking on such a wide brief. We all know the feeling well. My specific question is about the meeting in Canada between the Foreign Secretary and the US Secretary of State. In light of the national security strategy that the United States issued only last week, what assessment have His Majesty’s Government made of the relationship, particularly as we go forward, with more than 100 conflicts raging around the world?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I am grateful for the support of the noble Lord for my taking on a number of issues today. The US strategy, which I saw earlier this week, is a matter for the US Government, but, self-evidently, the United Kingdom wants to participate and support where there are common objectives. As the noble Lord will have seen, this week the Prime Minister met the German Chancellor, the Ukrainian President and others to look at the challenges we face in Europe. I believe very strongly that a strong European partnership, where we increase defence expenditure in Europe and, at the same time, work with our American partners on key issues, is the right way forward. It is for the Americans to determine their priorities. It is for us to determine ours.
Counter-Extremism Strategy
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Hanson of Flint(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, as a former Minister for Countering Extremism at the Home Office and subsequently at the FCDO, I wrestled with the issue of co-ordination between those two departments on what I would term imported extremism. The clear message that needs to be sent internationally is to stop extremism at source. What measures will be included in the review to ensure that those seeking to come to our shores are prevented from doing so in the first place?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I will take that as a representation on the outcome of the review, because I cannot comment on the review today. There are two aspects to extremism, the first of which is an external threat, so the Government have to be cognisant of individuals. That is why we have watch lists, security services and advice looking at potential threats from abroad. Equally, the strategy will be concerned with radicalisation at home—not just people from communities that relate to the faith of Islam, but people who might well be radicalised online by a range of sources, from outside the UK or from inside. Counter-extremism is about looking at the total envelope, at home and abroad, and the Government will focus on that when the review’s recommendations are brought forward.