New anti-extremism laws planned in bid to revitalise Cameron’s premiership

Measures aimed at preventing radicalisation of young people to be included in the Queen’s speech

New laws to prevent people with extremist views and backgrounds from working with young people will be included in this week’s Queen’s speech as part of a legislative programme aimed at revitalising David Cameron’s premiership after the 23 June EU referendum.

A counter-extremism bill is also expected to contain new powers to ban “extremist” organisations, gag individuals and empower councils to shut premises used to “promote hatred”.

Among other measures expected to be in the bill are plans to ban radical preachers from posting material online and powers to allow the media watchdog Ofcom to block broadcasts of “unacceptable extremist material”.

But last night, senior opposition MPs expressed concern that the bill could alienate Muslims and contain too broad a definition of extremist activity, harming the cause of multiculturalism. Alistair Carmichael MP, the Lib Dem spokesperson for home affairs, said: “Rumours about what the upcoming extremism bill will include paint a dark picture. The government seems to think that the answer to every problem is to ban it. The last thing we should be doing is driving extremists into the shadows and underground.

“The government is not only threatening our safety with this bill but the very fabric of our multicultural society by alienating certain communities.”

Other contentious bills will include plans to abolish the Human Rights Act in favour of a British bill of rights, although measures are expected to stop short of original plans for Britain to quit the European court of human rights.

Cameron has been accused by critics of taking his eye off the domestic agenda in recent months and of running a government of U-turns, after abandoning key policies on schools and disability benefits, and changes of mind on issues such as child migrants.

The Queen’s speech on Wednesday will aim to chart a new post-referendum course, with much of the emphasis being on promoting the “life chances” of young people.

While an education bill on extending the academy programme will be a scaled-down version of the original idea to force all schools to convert by 2022, it will reiterate the aim of full academisation and create powers to force change on schools run by “failing” local education authorities.

There will also be legislation to safeguard children in care, a prison reform bill, and a bill to promote the National Citizen Service that will create a legal obligation for government departments, schools and councils to push the NCS so it can reach a further 100,000 young people, particularly those from deprived backgrounds, by 2020.

More than 200,000 15-to-17 year olds have completed NCS programmes since its launch in 2011 and the government allocated £1.2bn in the last spending review to fund a wider roll-out.

See more on this Topic