Labour: Questions over application of extremism definition
The Government has unveiled its new definition of extremism amid rising concern about threats to social cohesion and British democracy. Shadow Treasury minister Darren Jones said that there is a “cross party consensus that we should tackle hateful extremism.” He however insisted that there is a “broader question about how that definition is then applied and what the relevant checks and balances are in the system.” Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Of course there is a cross-party consensus that we should tackle hateful extremism.
00:04 There is no place for that in our country and it shouldn't be tolerated.
00:07 But we think the Conservatives really ought to be going further than they are today.
00:10 The definition that's been announced today is only really about government financing
00:14 and engagement of particular groups or individuals, which rather implies that maybe
00:19 Michael gave the link to governments financing hateful extremism and he'll need to clarify that later today.
00:23 But there's no update to the countering extremism strategy which is nine years out of date.
00:28 There's no update to the relevant action plans about how agencies deal with these issues in local communities.
00:33 And if the government is really committed to tackling it, they need to do some more work.
00:37 It's right for people to be concerned about this definition being abused.
00:40 That's why checks and balances are important.
00:42 There should be a right of appeal if ministers designate organisations using these powers.
00:47 Not just a judicial review in the High Court, which is very expensive and for many organisations unattainable.
00:53 But also probably some role for Parliament as well to think about how this is being applied and used in practice.