Public figures should ‘moderate language’ to fight extremism

Home Secretary Sajid Javid is to use a speech on Confronting Extremism Together to stress the need for public figures to ‘moderate their language’ as part of a greater effort to tackle extremism.

With US President Donald Trump in the centre of allegations of racism and a new poll suggesting that 52 per cent of respondents had witnessed extremism, Javid will say that everyone has a ‘part to play’ to stop the spread of poisonous ideologies.

Javid will tell civil society groups, charities and academics that extremists use immigration ‘as a proxy for race’ and exaggerate migrant figures to stoke fear, urging the audience to ‘confront the myths about immigration’ and lead the change towards ‘further integration within society’.

The speech will follow the publication of a poll by the Commission for Countering Extremism, in which half of the nearly 3,000 respondents said they had witnessed extremism. Of these, 45 per cent said they had seen it online while 39 per cent said they had seen it in their local area.

Lead commissioner Sara Khan stated that the findings ‘underline the breadth and severity of the concerns we have in 2019’.