Hate preachers would be silenced and extremist groups banned if Britain’s Conservatives are returned to office in next year’s general election, Home Secretary Theresa May said Tuesday.
A future Conservative government would seek new powers to stop “harmful” individuals from speaking at public events and curb their social media activity, May told the Daily Mail ahead of unveiling the proposed package of measures at the Conservative Party conference.
She promised greater police access to internet data in a package that would address the “full spectrum of extremism.”
May said hate preachers were currently operating just within the law and that proposed Extreme Disruption Orders (EDOs) would give authorities power to go after those considered inciting others to acts of terrorism.
“Of course we want to maintain free speech but we don’t want to see incitement,” she told the paper.
Courts could issue EDOs against individuals if authorities showed “on the balance of probabilities” they were spreading hate or inciting violence.
The home secretary amplified remarks by Prime Minister David Cameron, who told the BBC that “the problem that we’ve had is this distinction of saying we will only go after you if you’re an extremist that directly supports violence.”
Cameron said this had “left the field open for extremists who know how not to step over the line. But these are people who have radicalised young minds and led to people heading off to Syria or Iraq to take part in this ghastly slaughter.”
Police in the western city of Bristol fear a 15-year-old schoolgirl of Somali descent has run away from home to join Islamic extremists in Syria. Yusra Hussien was reported missing by her parents last week.
Around 500 Britons are believed to have joined in the conflict in Syria and Iraq.
GNA
