We surveyed 164 parliamentary candidates during the general election campaign period, revealing that over 90% of prospective parliamentarians are aware and greatly concerned about extremism in the UK.
Raheem Kassam, Director of Student Rights comments: “It is greatly encouraging that such a majority of potential lawmakers in this country are aware that radicalisation is a growing problem. What we would like to see now is staunch action alongside university and police authorities in tackling extremism and the recruitment that is occurring on campuses UK-wide. It must start with proscribing the Islamist group ‘Hizb-ut-Tahrir’ immediately.”
- The report asked ten questions of candidates standing for Parliament and revealed that most candidates and re-standing MPs are cognisant of extremism issues, however felt that they were underinformed on some issues, especially pertaining to university matters and radical group ‘Hizb-ut-Tahrir’.
- A majority of candidates endorsed Special Branch action on campuses, while maintaining that university authorities also need to be pushing a lot harder against radicalisation on campuses – actively tackling issues when they arise.
- Freedom of speech is maintained as an ideal by the findings of the survey, however in the face of security concerns, 68% of candidates responded that threats must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Only 4.9% endorsed absolute freedom of speech, even in the case of hate-speech or threats.
- Conservative Party candidates appeared the most attuned to these matters, with 100% being ‘concerned greatly’, with 90.6% of Lib Dems responding in the same manner and 87.5% for Labour.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE
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