Counter-Extremism Strategy

Baroness May of Maidenhead Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May)]

I am pleased to today publish our counter-extremism strategy.

Extremism poses a serious threat to this country. Our diverse society thrives because of the values that unite us, including democracy, the rule of law, free speech and mutual respect. Extremists threaten these values and can cause enormous harm to individuals and communities.

Their ideologies promote hatred, intolerance and division. They have inspired hundreds of Britons to travel to Iraq and Syria to join a brutal regime under the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). They have motivated acts of unspeakable violence, including the murder of 30 Britons in Tunisia in June.

The damage extremists do reaches beyond these tragedies. Neo-Nazis spread bigotry and abuse, including anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Semitism. Women are told they do not deserve the same rights as men to education, work or justice. People withdraw from the mainstream, sowing fear and isolation.

I am therefore today publishing a strategy to defeat all forms of extremism: violent and non-violent, Islamist and neo-Nazi. The strategy will improve our understanding of extremism and take action in four principal areas: we will confront the extremist ideology head-on, promote mainstream voices, disrupt extremists, and build stronger and more cohesive communities.

This work will be delivered through a partnership of all individuals and groups who want to defeat extremism. The strategy sets out how we will build this partnership and together make Britain stronger.

Copies of the strategy (Cm 9145) will be available from the Vote Office. It will also be published online at: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications.

[HCWS250]