PM’s school visit to launch anti-extremism message

“Despite the protestations of government ministers, it casts the net far too wide”.

While Cameron didn’t define what he considers extremist views, he highlighted the hundreds of young people who have left home to fight in Syria, and the recent case of a 15-year-old convicted of inciting terrorism overseas.

“Today’s counter extremism announcement by the Government is a missed opportunity to really engage the Muslim community and work in partnership against terrorism and extremism”. “The government’s new Counter-Extremism Strategy is a clear signal of the choice we have made to take on this poisonous ideology with resolve, determination and the goal of a building a greater Britain”. And we will thwart its destructive consequences.

His comments were echoed by the Shadow Home Secretary who cautioned that ministers must “proceed with the utmost caution”.

Secretary-general Dr Shuja Shafi accused the government of a “misguided conveyor-belt theory analysis that conflates terrorism with subjective notions of extremism and Islamic practices” over his strategy.

The measures also include barring people convicted of extremist offenses from working with children. “If we are to have such lists at all, they should be determined through a transparent process and subject to judicial oversight”.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said 750 extremists had travelled to Iraq and Syria and half of them have returned, and this raised questions about what kind of threat those people now posed in the community.

Fahy said the way the new measures work could prove problematic.

“If you enforce tolerance of other religions you cramp free speech”, he said. At what point do you erode the British values you are trying to protect. It’s no good simply talking about violent extremism.

“It risks being counter-productive by alienating the very people needed to confront Al-Qaeda or Daesh-related terrorism: British Muslim communities”.

“This compares to an England and Wales average of 232 and the Met with 388”.

The Prime Minister acted amid concerns of “entryism” by fanatics into the NHS, the civil service, local authorities and the country’s education system following the Trojan Horse plot in Birmingham.

The details of the published strategy show that the tough package first proposed by May in March has survived largely intact despite objections from six cabinet colleagues. Almost three-quarters of Muslims hold only a British passport.

“Bedfordshire Police is funded as though it is a small rural force yet it faces urban policing challenges, including extremism, the 4th highest level of gun crime per head, 7th highest level of knife crime per head and the highest level of burglary, robbery and vehicle crime per office of any force. A lot of Muslims feel that there is a constant anti-Muslim narrative in the media”.

The GMP boss is not the only police chief to have told the Guardian of concerns about the new extremism plans. “He should be building bridges with the Muslim community not destroying them”. May said that the stricter regulations applied to extremists of all colors, from neo-Nazis to those who support groups like ISIS, the BBC reported Monday.