State of Extremism Report

Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

On the quotes mentioned by the noble Lord, I bow to his significant experience in managing these issues and I will certainly look at his comments. On the commitments set out in the proposals, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is looking at strengthening the Charity Commission’s powers to tackle extremist and terrorist exploitation in the charitable sector. There will be consultation and development of further powers on persistent misconduct, while ensuring that the power to close a charity exists and that the focus is on extremism rather than any other issue.

[Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)]

My Lords, given the recent incidents in Southampton and Belfast—in which individuals who appeared to belong to either the Black or the Asian community were particularly targeted for no reason other than what they looked like—does the Minister agree that social cohesion must now be a national priority if we are to tackle extremism in all its forms?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Absolutely. I condemn the incident in Belfast—an individual has now been charged, but I cannot comment further—and the actions that were taken in Southampton. People have the right to protest, but they must do so in a way that does not damage businesses, the community or police officers who are trying to protect the public at large. On 9 March the Government published a social cohesion action plan, Protecting What Matters, which sets out a number of points on our efforts to build social cohesion. We accept that we must do that, in order to ensure that everybody in our society has the right to live their lives and conduct their business free from political violence and extremist intervention.