Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience: Khan Review

Jonathan Gullis Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the Khan Review on threats to social cohesion and democratic resilience.

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Mark. I am grateful for the opportunity to talk about this important topic. The UK’s democracy is the oldest and most established in the world. We have set an example for countless countries to follow. Brave men and women from these islands and the Commonwealth fought and died in defence of the values that have shaped our great nation. However, as the Khan review sets out, we cannot get complacent. Advancing our democracy and ensuring that it is safe requires constant vigilance.

In the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and further afield, democracy sadly continues to be under threat. Elected representatives in this country are being threatened like never before. This year we have seen MPs from across the political divide intimidated and threatened by extremists intent on tearing apart our democratic framework. Very tragically, in the past decade alone we have seen two Members of Parliament, Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, killed by the far right and an Islamist terrorist respectively.

Across the western world we have seen a shocking rise in antisemitism and anti-Jewish hate in the wake of the 7 October terrorist attacks committed by Hamas. In the UK specifically, the House of Commons Library notes that police forces in Manchester, Yorkshire, the west midlands and Merseyside reported an increase in antisemitism. I am horrified by reports that the Jewish community are scared to visit the capital city of this country and that Jewish schoolchildren are hiding badges on their school uniforms for fear of being discriminated against.

In Stoke-on-Trent we have seen very real threats to our own democracy and social cohesion. At a recent fundraising event for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire’s Conservative police and crime commissioner candidate Ben Adams, protestors hijacked a local Conservative party dinner in Shelton. Some protestors were known to have been supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which the Government have now rightly proscribed as a terrorist group. They managed to enter the facility, threatening local activists and behaving aggressively in the presence of children of the attendees. That is a clear example of malign actors threatening social cohesion. They are capitalising on tensions and unrest caused by events in the middle east to push their dangerous and divisive agenda at home.

As the Khan review points out, “freedom-restricting harassment” is threatening social cohesion and testing our democracy like never before. When the Prime Minister stood on the steps of Downing Street on 1 March this year, he made it clear that we have seen

“a shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality.”

That is why the Khan review is both timely and necessary. The geopolitical environment has become increasingly unstable and unpredictable, which exacerbates the threat of social media to social cohesion. The tragic events of 7 October, when Hamas committed the worst pogrom since the holocaust, have presented us with an immense challenge.

On reading the Khan review, I was deeply concerned that the continuing activity of far-right and Islamist groups poses serious challenges to cohesion when they capitalise on the backdrop of geopolitical instability to stir division. These malign groups have sophisticated networks. Community spaces such as gyms are used as a recruiting ground, and vulnerable young people are targeted. If we want to tackle these challenges head on, we must be prepared to consider the findings of the Khan review and work constructively to deliver social cohesion once again.

On the steps of 10 Downing Street in March, the Prime Minister stated:

“Immigrants who have come here have integrated and contributed.”

I see that at first hand in Stoke-on-Trent, where we have a thriving migrant community who work in our NHS, schools and other civic institutions. However, our city’s multi-ethnic and multifaith community is being deliberately undermined by forces intent on tearing us apart.

Far-right organisations play on people’s real concerns about the economic impacts of migration to make the case for their narrow-minded and nationalistic worldview. In the same way, radical Islamist groups will use fear to stoke up division in favour of their nihilistic worldview and argue that institutions set out to undermine minorities’ personal freedoms and individual liberties. Soaring immigration levels currently make it virtually impossible for people to properly integrate into British society, and with huge unrest in our streets we cannot build a more cohesive society built around British values like democracy, the rule of law, respect, tolerance and individual liberty unless we control the number of people coming in from overseas.

As the Khan review points out, cities like Stoke-on-Trent will fall through the gap if there is no coherent approach to national security. That demonstrates the urgent need for stronger borders, which will help to facilitate social integration and stop malign groups exploiting the immigration question to push their divisive agenda. In April 2023, the deputy director of Prevent, Katherine Elsmore, informed me that Stoke-on-Trent City Council would no longer receive money to deliver Prevent strategies in Stoke-on-Trent; the Khan report suggests it would be useful to revisit that decision. My hon. Friends the Members for Stoke-on-Trent South (Jack Brereton) and for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon) and I have written jointly to the Home Secretary to make that case.

While I have time, it is worth while to put on the record what we believe to be the arguments for reintroducing Prevent funding in the city. First, as outlined in Dr Khan’s review, the far right puts social cohesion at serious risk in the city. Groups such as Combat 18 and Stoke-on-Trent Infidels always seek to exploit domestic and international instability to suit their own ends. In 2002, the city elected its first councillor from the banned far-right British National party, and by 2009 had nine BNP councillors. I am proud that my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South led the fightback against them in the city, to offer a true centre-right conservatism option on the table. That led to the final expulsion of those extremists, and therefore allowed proper centre-right debate, alongside our colleagues in the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties and others, who are much more in the mainstream of party politics.

Alongside the clear threat of far-right extremism, radical Islamist groups also have a footprint in the city. The starkest reminder of that to me was when Usman Khan stabbed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones on London Bridge near Fishmongers’ Hall in November 2019, tragically taking their innocent lives. Sadly, that terrorist was born and grew up in Stoke-in-Trent and Staffordshire, where he had links to Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda and al-Muhajiroun, which has close links to Anjem Choudary, the face of militant Islamism and Islamic extremism in Britain. Given that 80% of counter-terrorism police networks’ live investigations are of Islamist terrorism, it is vital that we remain vigilant to the threat of other people who could be influenced by divisive and malign actors.

Earlier in the year, I welcomed the Home Secretary’s proscription of Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation. That vile antisemitic organisation encourages terrorism and praises the abhorrent terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October. Given that that vile group has a strong footprint in Stoke-on-Trent, where it runs local gyms and community centres, I fully support the Prime Minister’s decision to ban it. Sadly, that heinous group seeks to use events in the middle east to argue against values that underpin the UK as the world’s most successful multi-faith and multi-ethnic society.

To me, all that suggests that Prevent should review its decision to suspend funding for Stoke-on-Trent, because there is a clear threat to democracy and the rule of law from malign actors, from the far right and radical Islam, that needs attention in our city. Given that Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke have historically had some of the lowest turn-out rates for general elections in the UK, it is of paramount importance to help to ensure that people have trust in democracy, as well as in those who are elected to represent them. In part, that is about core issues such as levelling up so that people in our industrial heartlands no longer feel they are being left behind when competing with other areas, like London and the south-east.

The Khan review makes it clear that the financial vulnerability of one in five councils across the UK means that

“the potential impact on social cohesion in the short and long term could be destabilising to our country.”

Without doubt, that makes the case for levelling up, in respect of which we need continued investment, as we have seen recently in the Potteries, to improve socioeconomic conditions and regenerate areas that fall behind. Alongside boosting local economies and getting more people into work, we need to ensure that we have systems in place to stop people being influenced by malign groups that are intent on undermining our way of life.

The Khan review makes it clear that prevention is

“far more effective than cure”.

Given the unprecedented threats posed to democracy and social resilience, I urge the Minister to ensure that Prevent is aware of the new challenges that Stoke-on-Trent faces, so that we can help to promote social cohesion in the Potteries. The review makes it clear that it is essential have a co-ordinated approach to support vulnerable people in areas such as Stoke-on-Trent. That involves rejuvenating the local economy so that people feel the Government are supporting them, and having adequate systems in place to ensure that people from all faiths and ethnic groups believe in our democracy and play a role in it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jonathan Gullis]

Thank you, Sir Mark. I thank all Members who took part in this important debate, and I thank the Minister for his words and reflections, particularly on the Prevent funding for Stoke-on-Trent, and for saying that he will pass on our comments to the Home Office. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Jack Brereton) and I will continue to push for that additional uplift, to make sure that we can retain that important service.

I want to reflect on a few of the things that have been said. First, the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who is no longer in his place, should rightly be horrified to antisemitic tropes, words and images projected on to buildings in Belfast, as we sadly saw happen here on Elizabeth Tower. It is completely abhorrent that that kind of thing is taking place, and the police must crack down on it.

I visited the hon. Gentleman’s constituency—in fact, I gave a talk to members of his party, as well as to the wider community—and it was great to be surrounded not only by passionate patriots and Unionists, but by members of the community who have lived side by side. They may have different religious or nationalistic views, but they have ultimately grown up side by side as neighbours, friends and colleagues, and I am immensely proud to see the way that that country has moved forward.

My own stepmother, Janet Harbison, set up the Belfast Harp Orchestra, and a member of her family was once an Irish nationalist Member of this Parliament—as you can imagine, our dinner table can be quite interesting at times. She wanted to take part in the peace process by using culture as a way of bringing the community together, and she faced death threats from the IRA, despite coming from the Republic of Ireland and despite her family’s recent history of representing people wanting a united Ireland at that stage. Even she was targeted, with people sending her images of her younger sister, alongside death threats, letting her know that they knew where her family lived. That was truly shocking.

When Janet married my father, who is half-Irish and half-English by birth, they were targeted with abuse and threats; bomb threats were literally made against them, which saddens me to my core to this day. That meant that I was not able to visit my father as much as I wanted to, purely for my own safety. Rightly, my mother and stepfather, and my father and stepmother, wanted to make sure that I was safe.

That shows how far the country has now come, which is why what happened in Belfast is so sad. To see such things being played out again—although in a different guise, using what is happening the middle east as a background—is very sad indeed for a community that has been divided on the basis of birth or religion.

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South, who is fellow Stokie, although I am obviously an import—my accent gives it away—while he is from there by birth and by breeding. In fact, “Brereton” is all over the bloody roads and in the names of streets, because my hon. Friend’s family were responsible for building many of them in the not-too-distant past. It is great to see him standing up again for the community that we serve, and he is right to do so.

I am proud to wear or wave the St George’s flag, as I am the Union flag. I am proud to say that I am British and English. I am proud to sing “Three lions on a shirt” as much as I am to sing “Rule, Britannia”, which will not come as a shock to the Minister. I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with many fine patriots across our great community of Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, 73% of whom voted to leave the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum. I appreciate that there were unfair comments, and the hon. Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah) talked about people being called “traitors” in this place. I was not in this place at the time, but I of course entirely understand that it would have been completely inappropriate to refer to people in that way.

It is important to understand that there was a groundswell of anger among the public, including people like myself, who voted to leave and who campaigned to leave the European Union. We felt that this place was, sadly, not hearing or representing those views and that others in this place—not the hon. Lady but others, who are no longer here—were pushing the idea that people were somehow thick, uneducated or racist in wanting to see that democratic right delivered. That fed into some of those far-right extremist groups, which were able to proliferate off the back of that.

It has taken a long time to rebuild that trust. These things led to an undermining of our democratic system, which is why 42% of people still chose not to cast a vote in the 2019 general election. That is very sad indeed and was used by groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, which actually encouraged people not to take part in the democratic process—sadly, in this case, the Muslim community, in particular.

It is very important that we use the opportunity we have in this place. I taught religious education for eight years in secondary state schools across Birmingham and London, and Islam is a religion of peace. It is stated very clearly that to take one life is effectively to take the lives of all humankind. It is therefore entirely appropriate to make it abundantly clear to extremist groups—those on the far right, but also those in the Islamic community that pursue a twisted perversion of what Islam is actually about—that that is simply wrong and abhorrent. The word “jihad”, which is sadly now used in terrorist atrocities, actually has a very different meaning—that if, God forbid, holy war is required, innocent women and children of all races and faiths are to be left aside, and all religions are to be left in peace. Ultimately, it is only done in the defence of one’s faith—

[Sir Mark Hendrick (in the Chair)]

Order. Could the hon. Member wind up his speech, rather than start another debate on a related subject?

[Jonathan Gullis]

I do apologise, Sir Mark. I appreciate the point. As I say, I wanted to make sure that I use this opportunity, because as Members of this place, our words carry a lot of importance. I represent a large Pakistani and Muslim community, and given the recent tensions around what has unfolded in the middle east, its members may feel that I do not advocate their particular view as much as they would like me to. I want to let them know that I do, and I will always stand up for the positive nature of that community and what it has done. Indeed, for the first time in Tunstall, we have seen the election of a member of the Pakistani-British community, Councillor Tabrase Din, who is doing great work on trying to make our streets safer and tackling the backlash in recent times, particularly around extremism.

The hon. Member for Bradford West made an impassioned speech. I would just remind her that political parties across this House have people in them who have done very silly things, and he who is without sin may cast the first stone. I remind her that it was, sadly, the Labour party that was found to have breached or undermined the human rights of those in the Jewish community, in particular. I saw that with my predecessor, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent, who suffered tremendous antisemitism at the hands of extremists, who had, sadly, proliferated in her party. I commend the fact that the Leader of the Opposition has done a lot of work to try to drive that out, despite what we saw recently in the Rochdale by-election.

No party can sit here and say that all its members have been perfect, and we have all seen and needed to call out extremism in all its forms. However, I kindly remind the hon. Member for Bradford West that calling people such as Donald Trump or Boris Johnson extremists is completely wrong and drives the feeling that they need to be marginalised even further. They are mainstream, centre-right politicians who have a view and who were democratically elected by overwhelming majorities in both their nations at different times, and they should be respected, even though we may have political differences about what they did.

It is important that we continue to have this informed debate and that we make sure that all sides of the argument are heard. Most importantly, however, we must allow mainstream views to continue to be held by mainstream parties in a good-quality, good old-fashioned democratic debate, rather than allowing the wider public to feel marginalised, so that they look to the extremist elements of society, thinking that their views will be heard or supported there. It is for us in this place to make sure that people feel that they can be heard and that their views are supported, and we will continue to do that.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the Khan Review on threats to social cohesion and democratic resilience.