(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Steve Reed)
This Government have published “Protecting What Matters”, which has been laid before Parliament as a Command Paper, setting out initial steps to strengthen social cohesion in the UK.
Our first duty as Government is to protect our country. That means fighting back against hostile actors from home and abroad and bringing those of us who are proud of the UK together in pursuit of a safer, stronger, more prosperous country.
As a nation we are proof that people from different backgrounds can live, work and contribute together. But the foundations on which this country has been built, from which our principles of compassion and community were originally drawn, have been rocked.
Economic shocks, austerity, technological change, demographic changes and the rise in extremism have each made people feel as if they have lost a sense of control over their lives, their country and their community. They have reacted not just at the ballot box, but through online echo chambers exacerbated by malevolent algorithms, and in the polarisation of public life leaving us more detached from one another and less resilient.
The threat this presents to our cohesion is not academic. People from different backgrounds getting on together is not a nice-to-have, it is a fundamental precondition to the Britain we have come to expect and one that is needed for Britain to thrive in the 21st century.
This plan is what patriotism means to this Government. And if you say or imply instead that patriotism has anything at all to do with the colour of someone’s skin or their religion, then you are wrong, and we will fight you. We choose to celebrate our national successes and historic achievements, we choose to come together in the best of times and the worst of times, and we choose to take on those who try to divide us.
Our “Protecting What Matters” plan sets out our initial steps:
Confident communities: Recognising that communities thrive when there are strong connections between people from all walks of life, we will invest in the spaces and structures that bring people together and restore a sense of pride in the places we live. Headline policies include:
Committing up to £5.8 billion across almost 300 places, including up to £800 million over 10 years to a further 40 areas where social cohesion is under pressure, as part of the Pride in Place programme.
Investing £500,000 to fund additional community-led, school-linking projects, on top of the local authorities already funded.
Stronger oversight of home schooling to ensure all children receive a suitable education and meaningful opportunities to meet, learn and play with their peers.
Cohesive communities: Cohesive communities not only bring people together but create the conditions for them to integrate and live full lives. This publication clarifies our shared responsibility to manage the pace of change in our communities, support integration and remove divides within communities, encouraging people to come together and foster a shared sense of belonging and understanding. Headline policies include:
Setting clear integration expectations for communities, focused on stronger social connections, shared identity, a shared language and participation in work.
Mandating that citizenship is taught in both primary and secondary schools in order to highlight the relevance of the democratic process and constitutional principles such as the rule of law, as well as raise awareness of threats to democracy
Developing a social cohesion measurement framework to provide clearer, consistent metrics to measure local cohesion, and developing a cross-Government integration strategy underpinned by strong collaboration with local and strategic authorities
Tackling religious hatred through actions including rolling out training across the civil service, further protective security funding for faith communities, and ensuring hate crimes are prosecuted with the full force of the law.
Acting on the recommendations of Sir David Bell’s review into antisemitism in schools and colleges, and on the recommendations of Lord Mann’s review of how the healthcare system deals with antisemitism and other forms of racism.
Adopting a definition of anti-Muslim hostility that focuses on protecting individuals. With levels of anti-Muslim hate crimes at a record high, this non-statutory definition will serve as a tool to improve understanding, reporting, and wider approaches to tackling anti-Muslim hostility. It will support wider efforts to tackle religious hatred and build safer, more cohesive communities, while crucially ensuring everyone’s rights to freedom of expression are protected. Copies of the definition have been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.
Resilient communities: Citizens have a right to expect that the Government will foster the conditions in which connection, pride, and confidence can flourish. Underpinning all of this is keeping people safe both online and offline, and stopping those who seek to undermine our shared values by radicalising others into committing acts of extremism. Community cohesion is therefore critical to our national security. Headline policies include:
Embedding the Government 2024 extremism definition across Government, working closely with frontline partners such as the police, recognising that a consistent understanding of extremism is essential to tackling it effectively.
Publishing an annual “State of Extremism” report setting out the nature and scale of the current threat facing the UK and Government action to counter its activity and influence.
Strengthening Charity Commission powers to tackle extremist abuse, including the power to shut down charities and suspend trustees.
Strengthening measures to counter extremism in university campuses, including monitoring of non-compliance with the Prevent duty.
Enhancing our specialist disruptions unit to detect, expose and counter extremist influence across the UK.
Expanding the reach of our visa taskforce to stop extremists entering the UK.
Boosting media literacy and ensure greater transparency for online platforms.
I hope the House will support this action plan because its aims and policies are long-term, but we will be unwavering regardless, because we have already made our choice: in place of division, we have chosen unity.
We know that the real Britain has made that choice too. The real Britain is where parents put on after-school clubs and summer fetes to bring their kids together. The real Britain is where towns come out in the pouring rain to support their local football club, with the same passion as they would support their nation in the world cup. The real Britain is where councillors and officers fight for the place they call home, day-in, day-out. The real Britain is out there—it might not be as loud or as brash as those who seek to divide us, but it is far, far greater in number. Real patriotism is about backing them up. Real patriotism is on their side.
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