Anti-extremist plan to push ‘British values’ and link benefits to learning English

The Home Office is planning a “more assertive” stance against extremism, with a series of measures including penalties for benefit claimants who do not learn English and making visa applicants commit themselves to “British values”.

According to a copy of a new counter-extremism strategy leaked to the Sunday Telegraph, people with radical views would also be banned from working unsupervised with children under the proposals, which are intended to address not so much terrorism, but the spread of extremist thinking that eventually leads to some people turning to violence.

“In the past, there has been a risk that the government sends an ambivalent and dangerous message – that it doesn’t really matter if you don’t believe in democracy,” the document says.

“We need to stand up and be more assertive in promoting our values and challenging the extremists who fundamentally oppose them.

“This will include explaining our foreign policy [and] promoting mainstream voices supporting the quiet majority in all communities who oppose extremism.”

The Home Office refused to comment, saying it does not talk about leaked documents. Sources have confirmed the counter-extremism strategy is due to be published before parliament rises at the end of the month, although it is understood the document leaked to the Sunday Telegraph has not yet been signed off by both coalition parties.

In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, would not comment directly on the document but did say the government was increasingly aware of the need to tackle extremists in Britain who gave “succour” to terrorists. It was not just “those who break the law by committing acts of violence”, who caused the problems, he said.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the Home Office plans would cover a whole range of institutions, including jobcentres, mosques and passport offices.

Benefit claimants would face penalties if they refused to learn English under the plans. This is intended to help people integrate into British society.

Staff at jobcentres would also be expected to identify claimants who could become targets of radicalisation under the plans.

Getting permission to come to visit the UK or to stay could also become more onerous. The strategy says that making a commitment to “British values” should become “an integral part of applying for a visa” and that people applying for citizenship should have to “prove adherence to British values and active participation in society”.

Refugees seeking asylum could also find their applications refused if they crossed “a carefully defined legal threshold” of extremism, or opposition to British values. Instead of being granted asylum, they would instead be given “a new form of restrictive leave to remain”.

Colleges would also be banned from sponsoring visa applications if they promoted extremist views, or “knowingly or unknowingly” hosted extremist speakers without challenging their views, according to the plans.

The strategy calls for an independent review of the way unofficial sharia courts are operating for Muslims in some parts of the country, saying there had been “troubling reports that in some areas women have suffered from the way these councils work, either through forced marriage or discriminatory divorce proceedings”.

The document also warns about extremist “entryism” in schools. And it identifies Tower Hamlets in London as a borough where extremism has been allowed to go unchallenged.