Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether under proposed legislation on tackling extremism and terrorism, if a person is found guilty of extremism for expressing certain views, all other people who have expressed those views will be prosecuted.

We are not intending to create a new criminal offence of extremism in the Bill so the issue of being found guilty will not arise. The Counter-Extremism Bill will introduce new civil powers to tackle extremism. These include Banning Orders to outlaw extremist groups, Extremism Disruption Orders to restrict the harmful activities of individual extremists and Closure Orders to close down premises used to promote extremism.

The proposed powers will be applied on a case by case basis taking into account the specific circumstances and actions involved. The legislation will be subject to safeguards to ensure our new powers are used where they are needed to stop extremism and protect the public, including judicial oversight.