Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
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Monday Volume 582 9 June 2014 No. 3 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Monday 9 June 2014 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2014 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 245 9 JUNE 2014 Extremism 246 to the Prime Minister and to Charles Farr, the director House of Commons general of the office for security and counter-terrorism. In addition, in relation to further comments to The Monday 9 June 2014 Times, my special adviser Fiona Cunningham resigned on Saturday. The House met at half-past Two o’clock Yvette Cooper: The Education Secretary will shortly make a statement about Birmingham schools, but last week the Home Secretary and the Education Secretary PRAYERS turned this instead into a public blame game about the Government’s approach to tackling extremism. There are important questions about the oversight and [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] management of these schools, which the House will debate shortly. There are also real and separate concerns Extremism about the Government’s failure to work with communities on preventing extremism and about the narrowness of 2.34 pm the Home Secretary’s approach. Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) Both issues are complex and require a thoughtful, (Lab) (Urgent Question): To ask the Home Secretary sensitive approach and for Ministers to work together, to make a statement on her conduct regarding the just as Departments, communities, parents, local councils Government’s action on preventing extremism. and the police need to do. Instead of showing leadership on working together, the Home Secretary and Education The Secretary of State for the Home Department Secretary chose to let rip at each other in public, making (Mrs Theresa May): The Government take the threat of it harder to get the sensible joint working we need. That extremism—non-violent extremism as well as violent is why the Home Secretary needs to answer specific extremism—very seriously. That is why, in line with the questions about her conduct in this process, particularly Prime Minister’s Munich speech in 2011, I reformed the about the letter she wrote to the Education Secretary, Prevent strategy that year, and it is why, in response to which the Home Office released and which has made it the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby, the Prime Minister harder to get that joint working in place. established the extremism taskforce last year. The Home Secretary has said that she did not authorise The Prevent strategy we inherited was deeply flawed. the publication of the letter on the Home Office website, It confused Government policy to promote integration but why did she not insist that it be removed, rather with Government policy to prevent terrorism. It failed than leaving it in place on the website for three days? to tackle the extremist ideology that undermines the She wrote that letter and sent it after she had been cohesion of our society and inspires would-be terrorists advised that The Times newspaper had briefing from to murder. In trying to reach those at risk of radicalisation, the Education Secretary. Did she write that letter in funding sometimes reached the very extremist organisations order for it to be leaked, and did she authorise its that Prevent should have been confronting. Ministers release to the media? Section 2.1 of the “Ministerial and officials sometimes engaged with, and therefore Code” makes it clear that leant legitimacy to, organisations and people with extremist “the privacy of opinions expressed in Cabinet and Ministerial agendas. Committees, including in correspondence, should be maintained.” Unlike the old strategy, this Government’s Prevent Did she and her Department breach the “Ministerial strategy recognises and tackles the danger of non-violent Code”? extremism as well as violent extremism. Unlike the old Secondly, the Home Secretary made it clear in her strategy, the new strategy addresses all forms of extremism. letter that she disagreed with the Education Secretary’s Unlike the old strategy, there is now a clear demarcation approach. She said: between counter-terrorism work, which is run out of “The allegations relating to schools in Birmingham raise serious the Home Office, and the Government’s wider counter- questions about the quality of school governance and oversight extremist and integration work, which is co-ordinated arrangements in the maintained sector”. by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Unlike the old strategy, the new strategy Does she stand by her claim that the oversight arrangements introduced explicit controls to make sure that public for Birmingham schools under the Education Secretary money must not be provided to extremist organisations. were not adequate? If organisations do not support the values of democracy, Thirdly, the Home Secretary’s strategy on preventing human rights, equality before the law and participation extremism has been criticised from all sides—not just in society, we should not work with them and we should by the Education Secretary—for failing to engage with not fund them. local communities and for having become too narrow, Turning to the issue of the unauthorised comments leaving gaps. She now needs to focus on getting those to the media about the Government’s approach to policies back on track, because it matters to communities tackling extremism and the improper release of across the country that there is a serious and sensible correspondence between Ministers, the Cabinet Secretary approach to these issues and joint working at the very undertook a review to establish the facts of what happened top of the Government. last week. As the Cabinet Secretary and Prime Minister The reason why the Home Secretary needs to answer concluded, I did not authorise the release of my letter these questions about her decisions last week is to to the Education Secretary. Following the Cabinet assure us that she and the Education Secretary will not Secretary’s review, the Education Secretary apologised put their personal reputations and ambitions ahead of 247 Extremism9 JUNE 2014 Extremism 248 [Yvette Cooper] took a very clear decision back in 2011 to split Prevent into the bit that tackles non-violent extremism as well making the right decisions for the country. We cannot as violent extremism and counter-terrorism, and the have a repeat of the experiences of last week. It is Government’s integration strategy, which is quite consciously shambolic for the Government, but it is much worse for run out of the Department for Communities and Local everyone else. Government. If what she is suggesting is that Prevent and integration work should go back to being together Mrs May: On the specific allegations of extremism in and being confused, she needs to think again because schools in Birmingham and the wider question of how her Government’s approach was damaging and caused we confront extremism more generally, there are very a lot of resentment among many British Muslims. important issues that I will come on to, but I should As the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull perhaps first remind the shadow Home Secretary of a West and Hessle (Alan Johnson), the former Home few facts. Secretary, said at the time we made that change, it Under this Government, foreign hate preachers such follows as Zakir Naik and Yusuf al-Qaradawi are banned from “the eminently sensible objective of keeping the ‘prevent’ strand coming to Britain. Under her Government, they were of counter-terrorism separate from the ‘integration’ initiatives of allowed to come here to give lectures and sermons, and DCLG.” to spread their hateful beliefs. In the case of al-Qaradawi, He continued: he was not just allowed to come here; he was literally “I completely agree with what the Home Secretary has said about embraced on stage by Labour’s London Mayor, Ken Prevent.”—[Official Report, 14 July 2010; Vol. 513, c. 1011.] Livingstone. The shadow Home Secretary should listen to her right I have excluded more foreign hate preachers than any honourable colleague. Home Secretary before me. I have got rid of the likes of What has happened in Birmingham is very serious Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada. The Government do not indeed, and the Education Secretary will set out his give a public platform to groups that condone, or fail to response in due course. We need to do everything we distance themselves from, extremism. For the first time, can to protect children from extremism and, more generally, we are mapping out extremists and extremist groups in to confront extremism in all its forms. The Government the United Kingdom. We make sure that the groups we are determined to do that. However, it is quite clear work with and fund adhere to British values, and where from what the shadow Home Secretary has said today they do not, we do not fund them and we do not work that on extremism, like on so many other things, the with them. None of these things was true when the Labour party would take us backwards, not forwards. Labour party was in power. The shadow Home Secretary asked about the Mr Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con): I am very “Ministerial Code”. I can tell her that, as the Cabinet pleased that the Home Secretary focused on the substance, Secretary and the Prime Minister concluded, I did not rather than on the pointless process questions that the break the code. As she has no evidence for suggesting I shadow Home Secretary focused on. I welcome what did, she should withdraw any allegation of that sort. the Home Secretary said about the changes to Prevent.