Mick Hartley

From the Times:

Believing the West is under threat from mass migration has been classed as a “terrorist ideology” that could merit intervention from the government’s anti-radicalisation programme.

An online training course hosted on the government’s website for Prevent lists “cultural nationalism” as a belief that could lead to an individual being referred to the programme, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Staff taking the course were told that this encompasses a conviction that “western culture is under threat from mass migration and a lack of integration by certain ethnic and cultural groups”.

The “refresher awareness” course is part of annual training provided to thousands of teachers, police officers, health workers and other staff whose employers have a legal duty to stop people from being drawn into terrorism.

The course, hosted on gov.uk, states that “cultural nationalism” is one of the most common “sub-categories of extreme right-wing terrorist ideologies”, alongside white supremacism and white ethno-nationalism.

Lord Young of Acton, the general-secretary of the Free Speech Union, has written to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, urging her to reconsider the classification, arguing it was a “matter of serious concern” for free speech.

In a letter to Cooper, Lord Young said: “While not defined in law, nor subject to statutory constraint, the definition in the training course expands the scope of suspicion to include individuals whose views are entirely lawful but politically controversial.

“Now that ‘cultural nationalism’ has been classified as a subcategory of extreme right-wing terrorist ideology, even mainstream, right-of-centre beliefs risk being treated as ideologically suspect, despite falling well within the bounds of lawful expression.

“Topics captured under the Prevent category of ‘cultural nationalism’ include widely held views, ranging from concerns about immigration and social cohesion to the belief that integration should be a policy priority, and that shared cultural norms help sustain a liberal society.”

Well, yes. As one commenter noted, "So a programme designed primarily to monitor sympathies for islamic terrorism has now decided that people who worry about islamic terrorism are themselves terrorists."

It's not been doing too well, Prevent. It was the subject of a damning report two years ago after its failure to stop Axel Rudakubana, the Southport killer, who was referred to it on three separate occasions. Perhaps if he'd expressed concern over immigration the threat posed by his radicalisation might have been taken more seriously.