Rishi Sunak has pledged to send people with an “extreme hatred of Britain” to the Prevent programme to be deradicalised, according to Telegraph reports.
The Tory leadership candidate said he would widen the definition of extremism if he is elected leader in a move that has prompted widespread confusion on social media.
Several people have pointed out that the policy could mark a dangerous step towards authoritarianism by including law-abiding citizens critical of Britain but without extremist tendencies.
There has also been bewilderment over proposals to “refocus” Prevent onto Islamic extremism as the biggest threat to the security of the UK after complaints that it had tilted too much towards Right-wing militants radicalised over the internet.
Earlier this month a parliamentary watchdog called for MI5 to be given increased funding to help tackle the rising threat of extreme-right terrorism, which now accounts for approaching a fifth of the spy agency’s investigations.
MPs and peers on the intelligence and security committee said the agency had been forced to progress other work more slowly and had been unable to expand other activities as it had hoped.
“This situation is untenable,” the committee concluded in a report released in July. “MI5 must be given additional funding to enable it to conduct these cases without other areas of work suffering as a consequence.”
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