Counter-extremism bill branded confusing by peers and MPs

Jul 22, 2016 by

by Peter Walker, Guardian:

Cross-party committee says there is no need for a new law, adding that proposals are alarmingly vague and will lead to people being wrongly suspected.

The government’s planned laws for countering extremism and terrorism are confusing, based on questionable assumptions, and risk bringing law abiding people under unnecessary scrutiny, according to a damning report by a cross-party group of MPs and peers.

The much delayed counter-extremism bill, now rebranded as the counter-extremism and safeguarding bill, has yet to even properly define its core issues of “nonviolent extremism” and “British values”, the joint committee on human rights said.

Amid the confusion the government had not shown that there was even a need for a new law, the committee’s report said, as virtually all possible offences appeared to fall under existing legislation.

“Providing a clear definition of extremism is a difficult task and the government has yet to succeed in doing it,” said the Labour MP Harriet Harman, who chairs the committee.

The bill, a new version of which was included in the Queen’s speech in May, sets out a range of proposed civil orders to combat extremism, which is defined only as “the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”.

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