Embrace British values and reject extremism, Theresa May tells Muslims as she warns of sectarianism

Britain must not “sleepwalk” into becoming a sectarian society, Theresa May warned today and called on Muslims to reject extremism, embrace British values and to give their daughters more freedoms.

The Home Secretary used her speech to the Conservative conference to urge all communities to recognise both the “rights and responsibilities” of living in a tolerant society.

New laws to ban extremist groups and curb the activities of “harmful” hate preachers will be brought in if the Conservatives win next May, she said. These will include barring some from public speaking and forcing others to have posts on Facebook and Twitter vetted.

But Mrs May went further by calling for a cultural change to prevent divisions destroying the traditional British values and way of life.

“Across the country, there are concerns about the way sharia law is being applied,” she said. “The way women are told to live, and the intolerant attitudes shown to people of different beliefs and ways of life. We must not sleepwalk into separation, segregation and sectarianism.”

She said Muslims and people of other faiths enjoyed enormous protection and freedom in the UK, but they must reciprocate by adopting core British values and show the same tolerance to others.

“All British people — including British Muslims — are free to practise their faith, and wear whatever clothes they choose,” she told the Birmingham gathering. “They are free to establish their own faith schools and give their children, including their girls, the best education possible. They are free to build their own churches, temples and mosques and worship freely.

“These are the benefits of living in a pluralistic society. But the whole point of living in such a society is that there are not just rights but responsibilities.

“You don’t just get the freedom to live how you choose to live. You have to respect other people’s right to do so too.”

That also meant respecting British values including “the rule of law, democracy, equality, and free speech”.

“These are the values that make our country what it is,” she said. “These are our values. There is no place for extremism here.”

She condemned the so-called “Trojan Horse” schools in Birmingham where pupils heard western women described as “white prostitutes” and girls were segregated.

And she spoke of the “allegations of the mismanagement of public funds in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets”.

See more on this Topic