by Fiona Hamilton, The Sunday Times
After a report by Lord Walney found about 30 organisations with alleged links to the Iranian regime, the Charity Commission will be given more options to tackle hate
The charity regulator will be given stronger powers to tackle extremism, allowing it to remove trustees and shut down organisations that promote hate.
The government’s new social cohesion strategy will include provisions for the Charity Commission to take on “extremist abuse” in the sector. There have long been concerns that the regulator does not have the powers and resources it needs to investigate properly charities that promote extremist ideology or have links to hostile states.
The plan, to be published today, includes measures designed to suppress extremist influence, promote integration and tackle religious hatred in other institutions, including universities.
An “anti-Muslim hostility tsar” will be created, according to a leaked draft of the plans, which cite Islamist extremism as the biggest threat to community cohesion. The new special representative on anti-Muslim hostility will “champion efforts across the UK to tackle hostility and hatred directed at Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim”.
Academics will be encouraged to alert the universities regulator if they fear the presence of extremism on campus. The government will also produce an annual report on the state of extremism, setting out the nature and scale of the threat facing the UK.