UK counter-extremism plan aims to address hatred on campus

The United Kingdom government has launched an action plan for tackling extremism in general but also specifically on university campuses, including making it easier for whistleblowers to speak out.

The overall aim is to create a “more confident, cohesive and united” country.

In the foreword to the plan, “Protecting What Matters: Towards a more confident, cohesive, and resilient United Kingdom”, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer states: “In the coming decades geopolitics will test the strength of our communities like never before. Not least because hostile states will actively seek to divide us as part of their hybrid strategies.

“Social cohesion is therefore not just good in and of itself. It is also a vital front in the resilience of our national security.”

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed, unveiling the plan in the House of Commons on 9 March, told MPs: “Today we navigate new threats to our communities and families. We must stand together once again against those who seek to divide and weaken us. They want to sow division in our streets, our neighbourhoods, our homes and our minds.

“They feed off deliberate misinformation, hatred and extremism, carried across social media by algorithms, and funded by hostile states and rogue billionaires determined to pull our communities apart.

“Online echo chambers, hatred for those with a different point of view and an unwillingness to seek compromise have led to a politics that is more aggressive, polarised and toxic than we have seen before – certainly in our lifetimes.”

Addressing measures to combat extremism in higher education institutions, he said:“Our universities should always be beacons of free speech, where students feel safe to learn, to disagree and to explore how they see the world, but in recent years this has been undermined and we will not tolerate that.

“We are introducing new measures to tackle the rise of extremism on our college and university campuses, particularly since the 7 October attacks, which include strengthening the monitoring of extremism on campuses, improving oversight of compliance with the Prevent duty and taking more robust enforcement action where it is needed.”

In his foreword to the plan, Reed says: “Decisive action will finally be taken on extremism, and unsafe campuses and workplaces will no longer be tolerated.”

The plan says universities should not only be alert to violent extremism but also to non-violent extremism, including certain divisive or intolerant narratives which can reasonably be linked to terrorism. The government will publish a new framework and guidance in September, which will come into force at the start of 2027.

Monitoring of universities’ efforts

The Office for Students (OfS) will further strengthen its monitoring of universities’ efforts to prevent individuals from becoming involved in terrorism or supporting it, the plan says.

The Home Office will also set up a “dedicated horizon-scanning function” to better identify and disrupt individuals and events of extremist concern, which will cover extremist activity within local communities, within charity organisations, and on campuses, including activity by student unions and non-affiliated student groups”.

The government will co-design a Cohesion Charter with students, which brings together a set of agreed principles that guide students’ conduct and engagement on issues that underpin – or undermine – campus cohesion.

The charter will focus on tackling extremism alongside principles relating to civic participation, environmental responsibility, and other areas that contribute to a safe and cohesive university environment.

“Once agreed, universities will be strongly encouraged to incorporate the principles into their own student codes of conduct, policies and processes,” the report says.

The government will strengthen oversight of compliance issues and take appropriate enforcement action.

It will work with OfS to bring “clear and concise” information on a complaint into a single online portal, giving staff, students and others quick and easy access to the organisations best placed to support them.

It will also work to add the OfS to the list of prescribed bodies under the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2024 to help ensure whistleblowers are able to speak up with confidence about wrongdoing concerning registered higher education providers.

“These steps will enable staff and students to make a confidential, protected disclosure if they do not feel able to raise the concern directly with the setting,” the plan says.

Under the plan, the government will “enhance higher education sector-wide capability to meet Prevent duty obligations while upholding freedom of speech”. Prevent is the government programme aimed at stopping individuals being drawn into extremism and becoming terrorists.

The Department for Education will be issuing non-statutory guidance this spring to provide practical advice on how providers should assess, manage, and mitigate risks associated with external speakers and events that could risk drawing people into terrorism.

It will also introduce principles to help providers assess when speech might be unlawful because it is likely to amount to a terrorism-related offence or is lawful but could enable a “permissive environment” for radicalising influences.

Protecting Jews and Muslims

The latest statistics show that hate crime is rising, with Jewish people disproportionatelymoretargeted by hate crime than any other group.

Religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims are also at record levelswith almost half of these crimes targeted towards the Muslim community and many living in fear that they will be targeted because of how they look or assumptions over where they come from, the statement said.

To tackle antisemitism head on, the government says it is investing “record levels” of funding to scale up security at synagogues and schools, clamping down onantisemitic extremismand rolling outtraining on antisemitismin theworkplace.

In “Protecting What Matters”, the government commits to responding swiftly to the findings of the review led by Sir David Bell into antisemitism in schools and colleges.

It will look at whether the policies, processes and support are available to help schools and colleges across England identify and tackle antisemitism when it arises. This review is expected to conclude by autumn 2026.

To tackle anti-Muslim hostility, the government is taking the “historic step” of adopting a non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility which makes it clear what is unacceptable prejudice, discrimination and hatred directed at Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim.

The statement said: “Crucially, this definition protects the fundamental right to freedom of speech, while protecting people from unacceptable abuse and violence.”

The government believes this will help tackle unacceptable hatred, prejudice or discrimination. In practice, the definition will serve as a tool for government and organisations to better understand, measure, prevent and address anti-Muslim hostility.

Reed told MPs: “We will not allow hatred to distort the lives and life chances of those who are targeted. Right now, Muslim communities are facing shocking levels of abuse.

“Anti-Muslim hate crimes are at record levels and now make up almost half of all religious hate crimes – way out of proportion to the size of our Muslim population. Mosques, schools and businesses have been attacked. Women have een harassed. Families are living in fear.

But he stressed that the government remains “absolutely committed to stamping out antisemitism. We have witnessed murderous antisemitic terrorist attacks both here in the UK and abroad. Sickeningly, those have led to spikes in antisemitic abuse.”

He said: “Today we are going even further to tackle antisemitism in schools and colleges and in the healthcare system and, crucially, clamping down hard on the extremism that so often targets Jews first of all. Work is under way across government as we continue to root out antisemitic hatred from every part of British life.”