Councils urged to take action on extremism or lose funding

COUNCILS were today told by ministers to focus more strongly on tackling violent extremists, and warned that they could lose funding if they failed to act.

In speeches in London, both Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said there needed to be a greater emphasis on "confronting" the "sharper end" of militant ideology, including directly targeting extremist leaders.

They said that it was no longer sufficient for councils to focus simply on promoting improved community cohesion if, at the same time, a minority of radicals were allowed to operate unhindered to inflame opinion and lay the groundwork for potential terrorist activity. The ministers added that inaction risked allowing extremists to target the young and other vulnerable individuals and warned that some local authorities could lose funding if they failed to adopt a more robust approach to tackling radicalism.

Although neither minister criticised any local authority directly, recent cases - such as the revelation by the Evening Standard that a speech by banned extremist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed was broadcast during a meeting in a hall hired from Tower Hamlets council - have highlighted concerns about the way in which radical ideology is being promoted in communities.

In her speech, Ms Blears said that many councils had engaged in positive work, such as training imams in English, but warned that a tougher approach was needed.

"Even the most cohesive communities can harbour extremist activity," she said.

"Building community cohesion is not the cure all in protecting vulnerable young people or wider society from the threat of violent extremism. That means working with the whole community and a focus on shared values alongside activity targeted specifically at individuals who are most at risk.

"That requires tough decisions, difficult debates, moving into uncomfortable and new territory and going beyond the usual people, usual ways of doing things and usual places of doing them."

Ms Blear's speech came as the Government published the findings of a report on the impact of 261 different projects around the country designed to tackle the spread of extremism.

It found that the projects - which include arts and sports activities and discussion groups - had reached more 44,000 people, but that there has been so far been only limited work to combat the most hardline extremists and the ideology they espouse.

In response to the findings, ministers have now written to local authorities saying that each one needs to respond to this problem seriously and warning that a review of funding is currently underway to ensure that this happens.