Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Con)

My Lords, in normal times—does anyone remember those?—I would probably have focused my remarks on the gracious Speech on a number of other issues I care about: women’s health, women’s rights, violence against women and girls, pornography, childhood harms, including social media and smartphones, obesity—all topics I am more comfortable with. But today, I step outside my comfort zone, because, like many, I am so worried about the divisions in our country, graphically illustrated by the two marches in London this weekend, at a policing cost of £4.5 million. The growth of sectarian politics, illustrated by the election of hundreds of new councillors who care more about Middle Eastern politics than local issues, is extremely worrying. Measures to deal with extremism, counterterrorism and state threats included in the King’s Speech are welcome but surely do not go far enough. Our national security, the integrity of our democracy and the cohesion of our society are all under immense pressure as never before. The extremist threat facing Britain has evolved rapidly and our response has not kept pace. As MI5’s director confirmed in his threat updates from last October and 2024, Islamist extremism remains the most significant terrorism threat to the UK and accounts for 75% of MI5’s case load. We are watching how this plays out in real time, with the increasing number of antisemitic terror-related attacks, some with clear ideological motivation and links to foreign influence networks, including those aligned with hostile states. If anyone is still in any doubt about the rise of antisemitism, they have only to look at the StandWithUs UK report, based on the testimonies of Jewish students who have been isolated, assaulted and intimidated on campus. Evidence shows that Islamist extremist communications have generated the highest and most volatile levels of activities, often intensifying in response to geopolitical crises, particularly those relating to the Middle East. This matters profoundly because it demonstrates that threats to our domestic security are not isolated from global events; they are shaped by them, amplified by them, and increasingly imported into our online and civic spaces in real time. At the same time, extremist narratives—Islamist, far right and others—are no longer neatly separated; they are converging. They share common features: conspiracy theories, anti-establishment sentiment and hostility towards democratic institutions. We see another worrying trend: the growing involvement of young people, sometimes very young people, drawn into extremist ecosystems through digital platforms where Islamist propaganda, alongside other forms of extremism, spreads rapidly and often unchecked. This is no longer simply a matter of isolated extremist groups; it is an ecosystem enabled by technology, influenced by international events and capable of mobilising individuals at scale. We must be willing to acknowledge the scale and persistence of these threats without fear or equivocation and, equally, without stigmatising communities who are themselves often the first victims of these ideologies. We need a modernised counterextremism framework that goes beyond terrorism prevention, one that can intervene earlier, particularly in online spaces where radicalisation now primarily occurs. Extremism thrives where trust is weak, where truth is contested and where communities feel divided and unheard, and that is certainly the case today. People are angry, afraid, suspicious and divided but still long for a country at ease with itself. They do not feel that the Government understand or share their concerns. They worry about increasing antisemitism and what feels like a tin-eared response to recent atrocities. I urge the Government to listen to them and act urgently, or we will all pay the price.