Manchester Terrorism Attack

Lord Beamish Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful. I condemn all those actions that the noble Lord mentioned in his contribution. It is a worry as to how that has manifested itself, and that is a long-term issue that we the Government need to examine. People should be allowed to live their lives in peace and security in their communities, without physical security. But it is important that we provide—as we have done—some £18 million to the Jewish community this year through the Community Security Trust.

We have supplied an even larger amount of money to help protect mosques and places of religion of the Islamic community, because, as the Peacehaven arson attack showed, this is not something that is restricted to one side of the community. If people have differences of opinion on political issues—and there are differences of opinion on some of the political issues relating to situations in the Middle East—I want to see them resolve those through political process, not through violence, intimidation or harassment.

I say to the noble Lord that, as a Government, we will do what we can to ensure that we return to a position where political differences are resolved by discussion and where respect for other people’s lives and community activity is engendered in our society. But, until we can get to that stage, we have to provide—and the Government will provide—financial, political and material support to protect people to live their own lives.

I hope, when we do that, that the Jewish community, in this instance in particular, wherever it resides in the United Kingdom, will take comfort from the fact that the Government remain on its side to ensure that it can enjoy its life in whichever way it seeks to enjoy it without fear, intimidation or harassment. That is why we have not only brought forward the measures to date but are also looking at potential measures to improve security in relation to protests and parades.

[Lord Beamish (Lab)]

My Lords, I think all our thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Jewish community not just in Manchester but throughout the country. I echo the thanks to the security services, the police and other emergency services that reacted so swiftly to this event. I ask the Minister to pass on my thanks as chair of the ISC to the security services for the update we received this morning on the ongoing investigation. We will obviously be expecting other reports as the investigation continues.

The Jewish community in this country is clearly under attack from Islamist extremism, as well as state-backed terrorism—which was highlighted in our 2025 report on Iran—but also from extreme right-wing terrorism, as set out in our 2022 report. They are both threats to the peaceful Jewish community in our country. One thing that is quite clear in both is the online space. It is used not just for perpetrating the tropes that have been outlined but for the self-radicalisation of individuals both on the right and in the Islamist space. What more can be done to tackle that?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend. As chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of both Houses of Parliament, he will have access to information that gives greater detail and background to some of the threats that we face from people of both Islamist and right-wing neofascist tendencies. He will know that in this online space there is greater potential for the radicalisation of individuals who will sit in a bedroom and look at stuff and be drawn down a kaleidoscope of activity to reach areas where people who wish this country or individual communities ill will radicalise them downstream.

We introduced the Online Safety Act. As a matter of some urgency, we need to look at making sure that technology companies take down information that is poisonous, and we keep that under constant review. I would welcome recommendations and support from the Intelligence and Security Committee, which will see information that Members of this House will not see, to ensure that we improve the policy objective of ensuring that online radicalisation is as limited as it can be as a result of actions that the Government and tech companies on an international and national basis can take.