Yvette Cooper to reject name to broaden extremism definition | Counter-terrorism coverage

Yvette Cooper will reject inside Residence Workplace recommendation to doubtlessly widen the definition of extremism to incorporate violent misogyny and conspiracy theorists, the Guardian understands.

A report commissioned within the wake of violent riots after the Southport murders final yr suggests authorities ought to undertake a “behaviour-based and ideologically agnostic method” to combating extremism slightly than “ideologies of concern”.

However the dwelling secretary is known to imagine the Residence Workplace ought to proceed its give attention to Islamist and far-right violence, which at present make up the overwhelming majority of terror circumstances.

The report, leaked to the right-leaning thinktank Coverage Alternate, says the federal government’s method to extremism ought to now not be primarily based on “particular ideologies of concern however on behaviours and exercise”.

It comes amid deepening scrutiny of the federal government’s method to extremism. On Sunday it emerged that counter-terrorism officers had not believed that the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was “in peril of being radicalised”.

One space of the report that has drawn criticism is the suggestion that claims of “two-tier policing” are a “rightwing extremist narrative”. Senior Conservative politicians have used this language to explain quite a lot of areas of their concern, together with the policing of pro-Palestinian protests.

It says scandals about grooming gangs have been exploited by the far proper and that rightwing extremist ideologies and beliefs have gotten extra mainstream.

Underneath the heading “excessive misogyny”, the report says: “A web based subculture known as the ‘manosphere’ incorporates a major quantity of content material immediately centered on misogyny, and generally absorbs extremist rightwing tropes.

“There’s an overlap between some manosphere narratives, specifically incel beliefs, and excessive rightwing [ERW] ideology together with racist narratives. Globalisation and multiculturalism, that are on the centre of many ERW narratives, are sometimes blamed as components in incels’ celibacy.”

For the primary time it identifies potential Hindu extremism. “Tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities within the UK are nonetheless evident and the occasions in Leicester present how disinformation can play a task in offline motion,” it says, referring to unrest within the metropolis in 2022.

Final week Keir Starmer promised a assessment of who may very well be charged below terrorism legal guidelines, after Rudakabana – who had no particular ideology that police have recognized however had an obsession with excessive violence and genocides – was jailed for the murders of three younger ladies at a dance class in Southport.

Starmer stated the assault was what many individuals would perceive as terrorism. However a former police counter-terror commander, Neil Basu, and Jonathan Corridor KC, the impartial reviewer of terrorism laws, stated widening the definition would convey an excessive amount of into scope.

On Tuesday a former Metropolitan police chief superintendent stated ministers have to be “very, very cautious” when altering laws round extremism.

Dal Babu advised BBC Radio 4’s At this time programme: “I feel it’s very, crucial that we do issues in a measured manner, we don’t do issues very, in a short time once we’re outraged by incidents. Sadly when we have now these outrageous murders of harmless folks, persons are fairly rightly offended and need to know whether or not issues will be finished totally different. What are the missed alternatives?”

Requested whether or not the Met had the assets to deal with a broadened definition of extremism, Babu stated: “I feel, to be completely trustworthy, we’re in the meanwhile battling the assets we have now to take care of terrorism now.”

A Residence Workplace spokesperson stated the report’s findings have been but to signed off by ministers. They stated: “The counter-extremism dash sought to comprehensively assess the problem dealing with our nation and lay the foundations for a brand new method to tackling extremism, so we are able to cease folks being drawn in the direction of hateful ideologies. This consists of tackling Islamism and excessive rightwing ideologies, that are probably the most distinguished immediately.”

In October the MI5 director, Ken McCallum, stated three-quarters of threats recognized by safety providers have been Islamist and 1 / 4 concerned far-right extremists.