Our counter-terrorism strategy must focus on keeping people safe…NOT political correctness

The terrorist threat facing the UK continues to endure.

Manchester, London Bridge, Fish hallmurder Sir David Amesand others took our lives in the name of terrorist ideology.

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The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy is centered around four pillars: prevent, prosecute, protect and prepare. Each pillar is vital and preventing radicalization into terrorism is critical to defeating the threat.

William Shawcross, former head of the Charity Commission, now Commissioner for Public Appointments, conducted an excellent independent review of Prevent.

I fully agree with this and accept all 34 recommendations. It finds that Prevent we need to better understand the threat we face and the ideology behind it. Extremist beliefs cause enormous harm to society and do not necessarily have to be inherently violent to cause violence.

We must do a better job of identifying and countering chronic, non-violent radical influences, such as the extreme Islamist narratives promoted by people like Shakil Begg.

In a 2016 defamation suit against Beg, a local imam, the High Court found that he had publicly advocated extremist Islamic positions. This, of course, should not come at the expense of dealing with acute, violent influences.

Islamist terrorism remains the UK’s main and deadliest terrorist threat. Nevertheless The Independent Review found that the Islamist threat is grossly underrepresented in Prevent.

Shawcross revealed an institutional reluctance to tackle Islamist ideology and challenge claims of Islamophobia. This has to change. I will provide for it.

Islamist ideology, supported by a minority, seeks to spread fear and division and undermine freedom. He does not represent the millions of Muslims living in Britain.

We must not be fooled by the dishonest and harmful narrative that challenging Islamism is anti-Muslim.

Shawcross also found that Prevent applies different thresholds to different ideologies. Right-wing and center-right politicians and commentators have sometimes mistakenly bracketed as “extreme right” and “Islamist extremism” has been defined too narrowly, resulting in non-violent radicalizing influences being overlooked.

There is also a need to ensure that our work with civil society organizations is value for money. I was deeply troubled by Shawcross’s finding that public funding had been awarded in recent years to some groups that actively promoted extremist sentiments or interacted with extremists.

All of this is deeply troubling and I will put an end to it. Prevention should be concerned with security, not political correctness. For Prevent to work, it must focus on public safety, not fear of crime.

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I will rid Prevent of its double standards and make sure it does much more to identify and tackle extremism in all its forms.

Shawcross is also right to distinguish vulnerability from susceptibility. Blaming extremism on someone’s vulnerability mistakenly denies identity and responsibility.

The truth is that many of those who have committed horrific acts of terrorism come from stable and comfortable families.

An ancient evil

Prevention will be refocused to take this into account as part of a much more robust approach from the government.

Shawcross and I agree that ancient evil anti-Semitism, which remains all too prevalent in some parts of our society, has been ignored. I promise this will change.

Similarly, we cannot condemn those who are not part of a group but seek to do something terrible, influenced by many factors, including ideology – we call this self-initiated terrorism. I will apply the review recommendations soon. I will refocus the first task of Prevent on combating the ideological causes of terrorism.

More will be done to thwart radicalizers and extremists. Prevent personnel and others under Prevent Duty will have better training and operational guidance to improve their understanding of the ideological nature of terrorism.

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There will be a proportional and consistent threshold for all ideological threats.

I will radically change the way Prevent works so that it can intervene more quickly to stop people being radicalised.

Control of our work with civil society organizations will be strengthened – we must not fund and work with extremists under any circumstances.

And Prevent’s funding will only go towards Prevent’s goals, not wider community initiatives.

I will also apply relevant lessons from this review throughout our counter-terrorism strategy.

Britain is a tolerant, welcoming and open society. In order for everyone to feel at home here, extremism must be eradicated.

He sows hatred and threatens our way of life. We are one country with one legal system that applies to us all and protects us all.

Those who wish us harm are relentless—we must be relentless, too. Terrorism is evil, but so are the extremist ideologies that spawn it. We must show neither timidity nor naivety in the struggle to defeat our enemies and keep this country safe.