‘Defeating extremism in all its forms needs a comprehensive, global approach’

BRITAIN and India are bound by personal, profes­sional, cultural and institutional ties. We have a shared interest in each other’s prosperity, generat­ing jobs, developing skills, and enhancing the competitiveness of our economies.

And our business links are strengthened by the people-to-people links between our countries – what we now describe as a “Living Bridge”.

These historical ties are, of course, also the foundation on which we cooperate on counter-ter­rorism and extremism issues.

I want to take this opportunity to look beyond counter-terrorism and instead focus on our ap­proach to identifying and countering extremism in the UK. In the UK, we do not consider extremism and terrorism as the same thing.

Of course, extremists use narratives to radicalise young Britons to join terrorist groups like Daesh. But radicalisation into terrorism is not the only harm of extremism.

Extremists also use their twisted narratives to justify hatred and division, spread intolerance, iso­late communities and erode the rights of women and minorities.

Our strategy defines extremism as the vocal and active opposition to our fundamental values, in­cluding democracy, the rule of law, individual lib­erty and the mutual respect and tolerance of dif­ferent faiths and beliefs.

Countering extremism is complex. We must bal­ance the rights of individuals to practice a faith, or their right to have free speech. Law-abiding cam­paigning and nationalism, like we’ve seen closer to home with Scottish nationalism, for example, is acceptable in our democracy.

But we will act decisively to disrupt extremist activity where our legal thresholds are broken and where individuals are crossing that line, whether that’s by inciting hatred or violence.

The threat we face from extremists is unprecedented. The internet is enabling them to spread their ideologies at a pace and scale never seen before. It also gives them access into every family home.

Last year prime minister Theresa May spoke about there being too much tolerance of extrem­ism in the UK. This is still the case today; but it cannot continue.

In Britain – as I’m sure is evident across all our nations represented here today – there are those who do not share our values of democracy, the rule of law, and mutual respect and tolerance of individuals of different faiths and beliefs.

Through our counter-extremism strategy, we’re acting now to confront extremism and the extrem­ists in our communities.

Our strategic approach is based around four pil­lars: vigorously countering extremist ideology – making sure every part of government is taking ac­tion to confront extremist narratives that run con­trary to our shared values; actively supporting mainstream voices, especially in our faith commu­nities and civil society; disrupting the most harm­ful extremists using all of the tools available to us and prosecuting those who break the law; and building more cohesive communities by tackling segregation and feelings of alienation which can provide fertile ground for extremist messages.

This is not about limiting free speech or about enforcing British values overseas. This strategy is about ensuring that individuals’ freedoms, such as the right of women, or minorities, to take a full part in society, are protected.

It recognises that you don’t have to support vio­lence to subscribe to certain intolerant ideas which create a climate in which extremists can flourish. Ideas which oppose basic liberal values such as democracy, freedom and sexual equality; ideas which actively promote discrimination, sec­tarianism and segregation; ideas which privilege one identity to the detriment of the rights and free­doms of others.

That’s why our strategy takes a comprehensive approach to tackling the ideology of extremism – whether violent or non-violent, Islamist or far and extreme rightwing.

And it doesn’t just consider extremism domesti­cally. It recognises that extremism needs to be tackled at source, which on many occasions can be traced overseas. Only through close cooperation with trusted allies and partners can we undermine the extremists who wish to do us all harm.

Defeating extremism in all its forms is not some­thing any government can, or should, do alone. We need the help of everyone and that is why we are committed to working in partnership, together.

Together we will defeat the extremists and build a stronger more cohesive global community, for our children, our grandchildren, and for every generation to come.

• Excerpts from a speech in Delhi on Tuesday (12) by Baroness Williams at the Observer Research Foun­dation conference on Tackling Insurgent Ideologies.