Gove to update Commons on how government is redefining extremism
Michael Gove’s announcement today of a new definition of extremism
has been widely trailed and briefed over recent weeks.
That means we can already map out the likely contours of
the debate around this issue in Parliament later today.
From the government’s point of view, a new definition is
needed in order to deal with what they fear is a rising tide of extremism – especially since the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent outbreak of conflict in Gaza.
We saw the scale of the government’s concern just
under a fortnight ago, when Rishi Sunak stepped outside No 10 and addressed
the nation about the issue.
The critiques of the government’s approach roughly fall
into two camps.
There are those who believe the government risks creating
more division – that was the warning earlier this week from the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York, but it is also a view held by some Labour MPs, while three
former Conservative home secretaries warned against the politicisation of
extremism.
Then there are those who fear the consequences for free
speech. That includes some Conservative MPs who worry
that people like anti-abortion campaigners or those with gender-critical views
could end up being captured by the new definition.
We will get a clearer idea of the kinds of groups the
government believes the new definition covers when they publish a list of newly-classified
extremist groups, probably within weeks.
Published at Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:12:14 +0000