Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken to tackle far right politically motivated violence in the UK following the March 2019 attacks in Birmingham and in Christchurch in New Zealand; and what meetings he has had with Cabinet colleagues on that issue.

The Home Secretary has been clear: the far right has absolutely no place in Britain. The British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right, which is the antithesis of the values that this country repre-sents: decency, tolerance and respect. Our counter terrorism strategy, CONTEST, works to reduce the risk from all forms of terrorism, irrespective of the ideology that inspires them.

Since Christchurch the government has put in place a number of measures to reassure communities of all faiths across the UK who may feel worried about their safety. In the first instance, the Police have implemented additional patrols around mosques and other places of worship and are working with communities to help enhance safety and reassure the public.

We have committed to funding a fourth round of the Places of Worship Scheme in 2019/20 as part of the Hate Crime Action Plan refresh, this follows the success of the initial three years of funding. On 19 March 2019 the Home Secretary announced double the amount of funding awarded last year would be available for this year’s scheme; uplifting funding to £1.6 million for 2019/20

The Government has also announced a new £5 million fund over 3 years to provide security training for Places of Worship. We will be working closely with communities and faith leaders to develop this new scheme and will, as soon as possible, be opening a competitive process.