Evening Standard comment: Counter-extremism and the terrorist threat

Evening Standard Comment15 February 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

By far the greatest threat from violent extremism in Britain is from Islamist terror groups — notably Islamic State — and the individuals attracted to them.

This is reflected in the focus of the Government’s Prevent strategy, which aims to draw individuals away from extremism. It is carried out through the Channel programme — which all local authorities now operate —which tries to reform children and adults who appear to be vulnerable to radicalisation.

The Government maintains it has prevented 150 people from joining IS in Syria and Iraq in 2015 .

But as David Anderson QC, the Government’s independent adviser on terrorism, points out today, extremists are not all Islamists.

No fewer than a quarter of all cases in the Channel programme are now suspected of far-Right extremism: a dramatic increase from the 15 per cent identified by the Government last year.

Far-Right groups feed off the threat from Islamism, according to Mr Anderson, and although they do not have as large a network as Muslim extremist groups, they can be very dangerous as lone terrorists, as we have seen in the murder of Jo Cox MP and the killings that Anders Breivik carried out in Norway.

But whatever the nature of the threat, Mr Anderson is right to say “radicalisation has elements in common with other hazards afflicting the young, from gang recruitment to mental illness”.

The threat from online radicalisation is already familiar. He is also right that the Prevent strategy should be as open as possible about its criteria and methods in order to instil trust within Muslim communities.

He goes on to say that applying the strategy to “non-violent extremism” risks alarming universities and alienating Muslims.

Yet it is surely right to be concerned if, say, Islamic radicals are free to address university groups or mosques without challenge and to proselytise their views in plain view. The Prevent strategy helps keep us safe from extremism, but it must be open about its aims and methods to get the public behind it.

Good news on jobs

Unemployment is down by 7,000 to 1.6 million in the three months to last December. At the same time wages and remuneration increased by 2.6 per cent, comfortably above inflation.

The proportion of women in the workforce is 70 per cent — a record.

Yet on closer scrutiny the figures should give us pause for thought. The number of UK-born workers decreased by 120,000 in 2016, while the number of non-UK-born workers increased by 431,000, according to the ONS.

Brexit won’t change that but it does mean we will have to boost the British workforce by encouraging people to remain longer in work by raising the retirement age and at the same time ensuring that young people here are properly equipped with the skills and work ethic of their European counterparts to make them attractive to employers.

Another RMT strike

The RMT has announced a 24-hour walkout on the Central line beginning next Tuesday evening, in protest at the proposed relocation of eight drivers to different Tube depots.

It is also threatening more strike action by guards on the Southern network after fruitless talks at Acas.

The deal between Southern and Aslef, the drivers’ union, could be in jeopardy too. All this is a nightmare — a recurring nightmare — for commuters.

Time for a tougher approach on the part of the Government.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in