David Cameron on extremism: Parents to get power to cancel children’s passports

• New powers to tackle cult leaders and those spreading extremist messages

• Extra powers for Ofcom in tackling foreign channels which promote messages of hate

• Encourage universities to denounce speeches by Islamist extremists

• Avoid social housing where people living there are only from one ethnic background

• Reducing segregation in schools through measures such as shared school sites, teaching across school sites and supporting the creation of new free schools in the most segregated areas

13.41

Reaction to David Cameron’s speech

Chief Rabbi Pinches Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis:

I welcome David Cameron’s comments on antisemitism and his commitment to fighting extremism. Across Europe we are all feeling vulnerable and it is vital that leaders across Europe stand up to protect us all. But political will is not enough, we as religious communities must take the lead. Only we know what is going on in our communities and we must work with politicians in this fight. It is our role to educate our communities about the peaceful aspects of our religions and ensure they know the dangers of extremism.”

https://twitter.com/Nluf15/status/623110956239986688

I can't believe my fingers are typing this but I can't disagree with hardly any of David Cameron speech

— chris clark (@ChrisangClark) July 20, 2015

I'm more likely to be radicalised by the BBC comments section and David Cameron's speech than I am by any mosque I've visited.

— Mo (@mo_ch124) July 20, 2015

13.06

Child passports to be confiscated

Parents will be given new powers to get their child’s passport cancelled if they think there is a chance of them travelling to the Middle East to join a terrorist group, David Cameron has said.

Mr Cameron said: “I know how worried some people are that their children might turn to this ideology – and even seek to travel to Syria or Iraq.“So I can announce today we are going to introduce a new scheme to enable parents to apply directly to get their child’s passport cancelled to prevent travel.”

Peter Dominiczak and Emily Gosden have the full story.

12.58

Trojan Horse scandal: Progress is not quick enough

“We undertook an immediate review when it became apparent that extremists had taken over some of our schools in the so-called Trojan Horse scandal here in Birmingham. But I have to be honest here – one year on, though we are making progress, it is not quick enough. It has taken too long to take action against the governors and teachers involved in the scandal and to support the schools affected to turn themselves around.”

12.55

The brutal reality of Isil

“We must also de-glamourise the extremist cause, especially Isil. This is a group that throws people off buildings, burns them alive and its men rape underage girls, and stone innocent women to death. This isn’t a pioneering movement – it is vicious, brutal, fundamentally abhorrent.

“And here’s my message to any young person here in Britain thinking of going out there: You won’t be some valued member of a movement. You are cannon fodder for them. They will use you. If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up. If you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you. That is the sick and brutal reality of ISIL.”

12.54

Conspiracy theories

David Cameron says conspiracy theories are leading to people making muslims “feel like they don’t belong here”. He warns that “we will not let them win”.

Cameron: how can it be that after Charlie Hebdo massacre, weeks were spent discussing limits of free speech & satire? pic.twitter.com/hsa0XvhlXP

— Emily Gosden (@emilygosden) July 20, 2015

12.50

Born here but no attachment to Britain

“For all our successes as multi-racial, multi-faith democracy, we have to confront a tragic truth that there are people born and raised in this country who don’t really identify with Britain – and feel little or no attachment to other people here.”

12.46

Isil is ‘barbaric’ in its ‘sick world view’

“What we are fighting, in Islamist extremism, is an ideology. It is an extreme doctrine. And like any extreme doctrine, it is subversive. At its furthest end it seeks to destroy nation-states to invent its own barbaric realm. And it often backs violence to achieve this aim mostly violence against fellow Muslims – who don’t subscribe to its sick worldview.”

My colleague Emily Gosden is with the Prime Minister as he speaks:

David Cameron speaking in Birmingham: "the root cause of the threat we face is the extremist ideology itself" pic.twitter.com/1vRY6TuJQE

— Emily Gosden (@emilygosden) July 20, 2015

12.42

Cameron: Britain ‘a beacon to the world’

“As we talk about the threat of extremism and the challenge of integration, we should not do our country down. We are, without a shadow of doubt, a beacon to the world.”

12.31

David Cameron’s major speech

The Prime Minister is about to give a keynote speech in which he will lay out the government’s approach to tackling extremism in the UK. You can refresh this page in the next couple of minutes (he’s running a little late) to watch a live stream. We’ll bring you the key points when he starts speaking.

While we wait, let’s remind ourselves of the key facts we need to know about Isil:

11.49

No troops on the ground in Syria

The Prime Minister has reiterated that there is no plan to put British troops on the ground in Syria. His spokesman said the PM’s “strategy is to make sure it is local forces on the ground back by support from the coalition through air strikes or training”.

11.38

700 Britons join Isil

I’ve just come out of a meeting with the Prime Minister’s spokesman who has said that David Cameron is determined to tackle extremism in the UK because some 700 people are already thought to have fled Britain to join Isil.

She said: “He has been clear that there is a point at which individuals get led out the door of wanting to fight for Isil and that is something that does not suddenly happen. We have got to do much more to tackle that.

“Some 700 people have gone to fight for Isil abroad and it is right that we look at what is making them do that and to see if there more that can be done in Britain.”

10.27

Why are people in Britain turning to extremism?

With David Cameron set to announce a five-year plan to combat home-grown terrorism, what are the issues surrounding the integration of British minorities, and why are they turning to extremism?

My colleague Dillion Leet says that the Prime Minister will identify four key reasons people are joining Isil:

• Extremism can seem exciting, especially to young people.
• People can be drawn from non-violent extremism to violent extremism.
• Extremists are overpowering other voices within Muslim debate.
• Failures of integration allow extremist ideas to gain traction

Mr Cameron will unveil his plan in a keynote speech at around lunchtime today.

Until now there has been no such proposal, and counter-extremism experts argue that it has been missing. According to Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Quilliam Foundation counter-extremism think-tank, the net result of this has been hundreds of people leaving Britain to join IS – also known as Isil.^{Haras Rafiq, from the Quilliam Foundation counter-extremism think-tank}

But what should the strategy address?

Mr Rafiq says that, so far, Western leadership has shied away from actually naming the ideology that extremists are prescribing to.

“It has so far very much been a Voldemort effect – he who shall not be named – with no-one actually coming out and saying it is an Islamist ideology. It is totalitarian and fascist, it tells people to do things for God in order to rally them to its cause.”

How do extremists use the ideology to convince people to join to them?

It focuses on creating a longing for identity, and a feeling of belonging to a group – something that some young people do not feel is being offered to them by British society.

Why are young people failing to integrate, and how have some been able to turn to extremism?

Mr Rafiq says it is not new for young people to rebel, and that rebelling against the establishment is something that is “very British”. He argues that groups like IS offer vulnerable people a sense of belonging.

“They are taking on this Islamist identity rather than the British identity. This is because IS, for decades, have been peddling this utopian, Islamic caliphate without being challenged within society.”

What is making young people turn to extremism?

Some experts believe it is a combination of three grievances – genuine grievances, partial grievances and perceived grievances.

Genuine grievances could be anything from racism to disenfranchisement, while partial grievances could be an aversion to certain foreign policies.

However, groups like IS focus to taking advantage of perceived grievances such as the victim mentality and conspiracy theories.

Extremists will focus on these grievances, will manipulate individuals, and use ideological arguments to convince people that the only way they will find parity is by joining their group.

10.24

Meet Louise Casey, leading the fight against extremism

The Prime Minister has asked Louise Casey to lead “a comprehensive review into boosting opportunity and integration to bring Britain together as one nation”, which he hopes will ensure more people from ethnic and minority backgrounds feel they have a stake in society.

Ms Casey, a senior civil servant who has a background in the social welfare sector, was appointed to the position on the back of a series of recent high-profile roles.^{Louise Casey}

In 2011 she became the director general of the Government’s Troubled Families programme, which aimed to help the 120,000 most troubled families in England turn their lives around by this year through tackling the repeated patterns of poor parenting, abuse, violence, drug use, anti-social behaviour and crime.

In September last year she was appointed by former local government secretary Eric Pickles to head the independent inspection of children’s services at Rotherham Council in the wake of the child sexual exploitation scandal and examine whether it covered up information about the abuse.

Her report, which was published in February this year, found Rotherham Council had widespread failings across its culture and services and was “not fit for purpose”, leading to the council’s political leaders resigning and Mr Pickles sending in government commissioners.

Prior to her role as the troubled families tsar Ms Casey was the Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses, taking up the role in March 2010.

Part of her remit was to promote the interests of victims and witnesses and encourage good practice in their treatment. She found that in many instances crime victims were treated poorly, and also suggested that trial by jury was unnecessary for many minor offences.

She resigned as Victims’ Commissioner in October 2011 after she was drafted in to work with David Cameron to help deal with the aftermath of the riots.

Ms Casey began her career in the social welfare sector, working as deputy director for the homelessness charity Shelter from 1992 to 1999.

She was also director of the Home Office’s anti-social behaviour unit, head of the cross-government Respect task force, tackling anti-social behaviour, and was later director general in the Home Office, heading the neighbourhood crime and justice group.

10.16

IS forced me to practise beheadings on dolls

As David Cameron sets out his five-year plan to tackle extremism, here we feature a video of a Yazidi boy who escaped an IS training camp he was forced to join. In the video he describes being made to practice beheadings on dolls and to physically fight his own brother.

10.10

Theresa May on tackling a ‘poisonous ideology’

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has argued on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the government’s plan will tackle the “poisonous ideology” of Isil’s extremists. She said:

We recognise free speech is one of our values and that’s an important value that we have but what we are saying is we have to look at the impact some people have in terms of the poisonous ideology that they are trying to implant in people’s minds that will lead them to challenge, lead them to undermine the values we share as a country.^{Theresa May}

10.00

David Cameron’s 5-year plan

Muslims who travel to the Middle East for the “glamour” of jihad will become nothing more than “cannon fodder” for terrorists, David Cameron will warn this afternoon.^{Isil in Raqqa, Syria}

The “sick and brutal reality” is that young men will be used as suicide bombers, while women who join the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant will face horrific abuse, the Prime Minister will say.

In a major speech, heralding a five-year plan to tackle extremism, Mr Cameron will say British values are “our strongest weapon” in the battle against the twisted narrative of extremists. Tim Ross, our Senior Political Correspondent, has more details.

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