David Cameron is to press ahead with Theresa May’s controversial counter-extremism strategy which includes blacklisting “extremists” from appearing on the airwaves and speaking at universities.

The home secretary’s plan will form part of the “full-spectrum response” Cameron promised after the terror attacks in Tunisia on Friday. “The whole strategy is currently being finalised,” a Whitehall source told the Guardian.

The prime minister told the BBC’s Today programme on Monday it was time to recognise that non-violent extremists could provide a “gateway” to terrorism and said it was time public bodies and civil society refused to engage with “anyone whose views condone the Islamist extremist narrative”. There had to be some basic rules over who was and was not beyond the pale.

“We have to deal with this appalling radical narrative that’s taking over the minds of young people in our country,” he said, drawing comparisons to the “battle against communism during the cold war”. The prime minister hinted that the first non-violent group to be banned could be Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was first targeted by Tony Blair in 2005.



The agreed definition of extremism, which the Home Office will use

to decide who to blacklist, is this:

The vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also regard calls for the death of members of our armed forces as extremist.

Fears of a Tunisia-style attack in Britain were raised after a report by the National Crime Agency last week which reported evidence of an “increased threat” of Czech-made Skorpion submachine guns being imported by street gangs in London and the south-east. But police sources said there was no evidence such weapons had reached extremist groups.



Cameron’s intervention in the wake of the Tunisia attack shows that the prime minister is now prepared to press ahead with the counter-extremism strategy despite the fact that it led to objections from no fewer than seven Conservative cabinet ministers and their departments when May first proposed it in March.

The new counter-extremism strategy marks a fundamental shift in the government’s approach to extremism, which in the past has only focused on violent extremists, whether Islamist, far right or involved in animal rights. A drive against non-violent extremists means moving against individuals and groups based on their ideas and not on their actions.

New counter-terrorism legislation to ban extremist groups that currently fall short of existing terrorist proscription orders, extremist disruption orders and orders to close down premises used to host extremist meetings have already been signalled in the Queen’s speech.



But the home secretary’s proposals will go further to include new powers to require television programmes to be vetted for extremist content before they are broadcast and for ministerial directions to universities and colleges not to give extremist speakers a platform.

The broadcasting proposal provoked a blunt response from the then culture secretary, Sajid Javid, who told May it amounted to censorship and was an unacceptable threat to freedom of speech. But it is now clear that the prime minister has put his full weight behind the home secretary’s plan. The Queen’s speech included a promise of new powers to “strengthen the role of Ofcom” in tackling the broadcasting of extremist views.

A new statutory duty on local authorities, education, prisons and health bodies to prevent the spread of extremism will also come into effect on Wednesday. The duty on universities includes preventing students from being “drawn into terrorism” but the House of Lords ensured they must also have “particular regard to ensure freedom of speech and the importance of academic freedom”.

May confirmed on Sunday that a new Home Office extremism analysis unit is already up and running. She has described its role as “helping to inform not just this [counter-extremism] strategy but government decision making on matters such as visa applications. As the unit grows and develops it will inform more and more of what government and the wider public sector does.”

The home secretary set out its terms in her “game is up” speech in March, some of which was confirmed by the prime minister on Monday: “The unit will help us to develop a new engagement policy – which will set out clearly for the first time which individuals and organisations the government and public sector should engage and should not engage.

“This will make sure nobody unwittingly lends legitimacy or credibility to extremists or extremist organisations and it will make very clear that government should engage with people directly and through their elected representatives – not just through often self-appointed and unrepresentative community leaders.”

But she said it would also have a more aggressive “counter-entryism” role. “We know from examples such as the Trojan horse affair in Birmingham that extremists use entryist tactics to infiltrate extremist organisations to promote their own agendas. The counter-entryism strategy will ensure that governments, the public sector and civil society as a whole is more resilient against this danger,” said May.

The other main elements of the counter-extremism strategy include:

• An independent investigation into the application of sharia law in England and Wales.

• A positive campaign to promote British values.

• A national database of school governors and a review of unregulated supplementary schools to protect them against extremism.

• Tougher police response to “honour crimes” and new extremism officers in prison.

• Full review of citizenship laws to ensure new citizens respect British values.

• New incentives and penalties for helping people to learn English and a sharp reduction in the funding for translation services.