Counter-Extremism Strategy

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2026 Grand Committee

[Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Goodman, for arranging this debate and congratulate him on his excellent speech. I also thank my friends the noble Lords, Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Walney, for all the work that they are doing to counter extremism. Indeed, I thank all noble friends—I consider everybody in this Room a noble friend—for all the work that they have been doing. I declare my interest as a member of the APPG on Counter Extremism.

I recognise, as others have done, that this is a very challenging and complex issue. We need to consider the issue of extremism as a system-wide problem. It is pervading, in more or less dangerous forms, early education, local and national politics, universities, prisons and even police services, as has been pointed out in terms of bowing to demands and threats from partisan groups in the case of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football match. What will and can the Government do to protect ordinary members of the public from the rising intolerance of absolutist, extremist and uncompromising positions, masquerading as free speech, that have so crept into the national discourse?

I would also ask the Minister about this. From record high antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate incidents to historically high Prevent referrals, all the metrics of assessing this extremist ideology suggest that we are in the grip of an extremism crisis. Can we hear from my noble friend the Government’s explanation of steps they will take to develop their counterextremism strategy and the timetable for that?

One can cite so many examples—we have heard many this afternoon—of ways in which it seems that extremism pervades our society more and more with impunity. One has to ask: when will the CPS act in cases such as that of Dr Aladwan, who has been arrested several times for inciting racial hatred? She has supported Hamas and broken the terms of her bail. Even more alarmingly, I would argue, she has openly involved herself with the Anti-Zionist Movement, a new group which declares that it is intent on

“Pro Armed Resistance … against Jewish supremacy”.

What can and will the Government and the police do to monitor this type of group?

I understand that it is not easy to draw the line or understand where to draw the line, even in cases such as the polarisation of politics, but I would argue that, if we start from a position of zero tolerance as soon as we see constant protests, we may be able to start getting a grip. I quote Rabbi Sacks:

“There is nothing inevitable about the division, fragmentation, extremism, isolation … or the politics of anger that have been the mood of Britain … in recent years”.


We must have the courage to speak out and act against this.