Home Office ministers reject their own department's review of counter-extremism policy

The UK government's counter-extremism strategy has recently seen further turbulence. A leaked internal review suggested shifting the focus from ideology to "concerning behaviors and activities," but Home Office ministers were compelled to reject this conclusion. The review also called for expanding the scope of counter-extremism work to encompass a range of causes and activities, including Hindu nationalism, extreme misogyny, and an obsession with violence.

However, as reported on Tuesday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper disagreed with her department's review recommendations and ordered that policy focus remain on Islamist and far-right extremism. Security Minister Dan Jarvis also stated that the review was not policy and the government had no plans to broaden the definition of extremism. Speaking in Parliament, Jarvis reiterated Cooper’s comments from last week that there were too few referrals to the "Prevent program" involving Islamist extremism.

Jarvis emphasized, "As we have said many times, Islamist extremism and subsequently far-right extremism are the biggest threats we face." He also stated that the Home Secretary had laid out plans last week for a full review of the threshold for the "Prevent program" on Islamist extremism, as they were concerned there were too few referrals. "Ideology, particularly Islamist extremism and subsequently far-right extremism, remains at the core of our approach to tackling extremism and terrorism."

The "Prevent program" and the government's counter-extremism approach are under scrutiny following the conviction last week of a teenager for fatally stabbing three young girls in Southport. The teenager had been referred to "Prevent" three times but was passed on to other services as he was deemed not to have an ideological motivation. Cooper ordered a review of counter-extremism policy after the Southport attack and subsequent unrest. The unrest was largely directed at Muslim communities and fueled by misinformation on social media that falsely identified the Southport attacker as Muslim.

Leaked excerpts of the review show that it called for the government to take an "ideology-agnostic approach" to tackling extremism, focusing on identifying a broad range of concerning behaviors and activities. The review warned that "a narrow definition of extremism... predicated on violence, or requiring an ideological dimension... excludes many harmful extremist beliefs and movements, and associated harms, that may require intervention." Examples of extremist beliefs cited by the report included Hindu nationalism, which it stated played a "significant role" in the 2022 tensions between Hindus and Muslims in Leicester, and "pro-Khalistan extremism," which calls for an independent Sikh state. It also cited "extreme misogyny," "participation in online subcultures known as the 'manosphere'," "spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories," and an interest in "gore and violence."

The Policy Exchange Center, which was seen as shaping the previous Conservative government's approach to counter-extremism and has been accused of stoking "hostility towards British Muslims," which it denies, has warned that the review's move to "downplay general ideology, and particularly Islamism," risks being a "major victory" for critics of "Prevent." According to a report from Policy Exchange, the review stated that a full counter-extremism strategy will be released next year. The report recommended that responsibility for counter-extremism be moved from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to the Home Office and called for an independent team within the "Prevent" Bureau, which would be renamed the "Prevent and Counter-Extremism Bureau," to take charge of counter-extremism work.

The report also called for a ministerial committee on counter-extremism, attended by ministers, security officials, and representatives from MI5 and GCHQ. According to the Policy Exchange report, other members of the committee would include Robin Simcox, head of the Commission for Countering Extremism. The Home Office's Commission for Countering Extremism, which was established in 2018 to support and advise the government on developing policies to combat extremism, has apparently been marginalized by the recent creation of a new position for an independent "Prevent" Commissioner. Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday that the Commission for Countering Extremism had been soliciting complaints about "Prevent" from anonymous far-right social media accounts.

Layla Aitlhadj, director of Prevent Watch, told Middle East Eye that successive governments have "consistently used reviews and consultations to reinforce existing policies, rather than critically assess or improve them." She added that any acceptance or rejection of the leaked Home Office report "is likely to follow the same pattern."