Ministers reject calls to widen the definition of extremism
28 January 2025, 14:23 | Updated: 28 January 2025, 15:00
Ministers have rejected calls to widen the definition of extremism.
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It comes after leaked Home Office review recommended the UK's approach to extremism should be based on concerning behaviours and activity rather than ideologies.
The widened definition would have included violent environmentalists, violent misogynists, the far left, and conspiracy theorists.
Other "behaviours and activity of concern" included violence against women and girls and having a "fixation on gore and violence without adherence to an extremist ideology".
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in August she had directed the Home Office to conduct a "rapid analytical sprint on extremism" to map and monitor trends and inform the Government's approach.
It also lists "spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories", "influencing racism and intolerance" and involvement in an "online subculture called the manosphere".
The report, leaked to far-right think tank Policy Exchange, also claimed that "right-wing extremists frequently exploit cases of alleged group-based sexual abuse to promote anti-Muslim sentiment as well as anti-government and anti-‘political correctness’ narratives."
It recommended going back on the previous Conservative's government's move to limit so-called non-crime hate incidents, and floats the idea of creating a new crime of making "harmful communications" online.
Read more: MPs hit back after Farage says Government is ‘kicking the can down the road’ on Southport inquiry
Home Office minister Dan Jarvis has said "there are not and have never been" plans to expand the definition of extremism.
He told MPs: "Many documents are produced across Government as part of commissioned work which are not implemented and which do not constitute Government policy.
"This work did not recommend an expansion in the definition of extremism, and there are not and have never been any plans to do so.
"To be clear, the leaked documents were not current or new Government policy, as we have said repeatedly. Islamist extremism, followed by far-right extremism, are the biggest threats that we face.
"The Home Secretary set out last week our plans to carry out an end-to-end review of Prevent thresholds on Islamist extremism because we are concerned that referrals are too low and ideology, particularly Islamist extremism, followed by far-right extremism, continue to be at the heart of our approach to countering extremism and countering terrorism.
"But as the horrific Southport attack shows, we also need more action on those drawn towards mixed ideologies and violence obsessed young people."
