Measures: Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to win what he calls the 'struggle of our generation'

Islamist extremists will be treated like paedophiles and automatically banned from working with children, the Prime Minister will announce today.

New powers will also allow parents to apply for under-18s’ passports to be removed if there are fears they have been brainwashed and might travel to Syria.

The measures are included in an updated counter-extremism strategy designed to win what David Cameron calls the ‘struggle of our generation’.

Convicted terrorists and other extremists will be put on a register that mirrors the vetting regime used by authorities to check if a person has a conviction for child sex abuse.

It will ensure they are ‘automatically banned from working with children … in the same way as individuals convicted of sexual offences against children’, a Downing Street official said last night.

During a party conference speech earlier this month, the Prime Minister warned that ‘passive tolerance’ of extremism and a failure to make Muslim communities integrate had put Britain’s children in ‘danger’.

Today he will say the ‘stakes are rising’ and Britain can no longer ‘turn a blind eye’ to fanatics who are brainwashing children to take part in terrorism or become jihadis.

Inspiring terrorists: Babar Ahmad is one of the extremists convicted under terror laws who could be banned from working with children. He set up pro-jihadi websites to recruit fighters and raise money for the Taliban

For the first time, employers will be able to use the Disclosure and Barring Service to check whether an individual is on a list of extremists – compiled from information provided by the police and courts.

The ban on working with children and vulnerable adults will apply in the case of both criminal convictions and, crucially, civil orders for such activities as preaching extremism, or handing out leaflets that are inflammatory.

GHCQ chief: Robert Hannigan has accused the likes of Twitter and Facebook of being ‘the command and control networks of choice’ for terrorists

Number Ten said it would help to prevent a repeat of the Trojan Horse plot, in which extremists gained control of several schools in Birmingham attended by 5,000 pupils.

The strategy also includes:

Banning and disruption orders to stop fanatics preaching bile on the internet or at rallies;

Closure orders which allow premises, including mosques, to be shut down if they have been infiltrated by hardliners;

Powers for Ofcom to take action against TV channels that broadcast extremist content;

Extending passport removal powers to under-18s to stop them travelling overseas.

Under the current system, passports can only be confiscated from under-16s, following a request to HM Passport Office.

The new passport rules will apply where parents are concerned their 16 or 17-year-old children are at risk of travelling abroad under the influence of extremists.

Of 338 recent counter-terrorism related arrests, 157 were linked to Syria and 56 were of people under the age of 20.

Officials say there have been cases of parents trying to hide their children’s passports, knowing they were trying to get to Syria.

There have also been a series of successful court order applications by local authorities to protect children at risk of travelling, either by their own choice or as part of a family unit.

FIVE EXTREMISTS WHO COULD BE BANNED FROM CHILD WORK The following are some of the extremists convicted under terror laws who could be banned from working with children: Babar Ahmad Ahmad, 41, admitted last year to setting up pro-jihadi websites to recruit fighters and raise money for the Taliban and other groups. He has been blamed for inspiring a generation of terrorists, including 7/7 London bombers. Ahmad spent ten years behind bars in the UK before being extradited to the US and imprisoned there. He returned to London earlier this year after his release. Shella Roma In 2009, Roma, 34, became the first person in Britain to be convicted of distributing or circulating a terrorist publication. The mother, from Oldham, was given a three-year community order after admitting giving out a leaflet which said 9/11 was launched to help the Freemasons. The publication ended with the phrase: ‘Jihad: the choice is yours.’ Abu Izzadeen Izzadeen, 40, was born Trevor Brooks and gained notoriety for his hate-filled speeches outside Regent’s Park mosque. He said soldiers were ‘crusaders’ who would rape and murder Iraqi women and children, and told then-Home Secretary John Reid he was an ‘enemy of Islam’. In 2008, the benefits claimant was found guilty of terror offences and jailed. This year, he was refused a passport amid fears he planned to join Islamic State. Runa Khan Khan, 35, from Luton, posted pictures of her toddler son holding a toy gun on Facebook and encouraged parents to put children on the path to jihad. The mother of six was jailed this year for promoting terrorism. She appeared to glorify the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby online, while she also spoke of her desperation to travel to Syria on messaging service WhatsApp. Khuram Iqbal A 22-year-old student from Cardiff, Iqbal called himself the ‘Father of Terrorism’ while posting links to extremist videos on Facebook and Twitter. He admitted disseminating terrorist publications after posting more than 800 links and was jailed for just over three years in 2014. Advertisement

Mr Cameron will warn: ‘I have said before that defeating Islamist extremism will be the struggle of our generation. It is one of the biggest social problems we need to overcome.

‘We know that extremism is really a symptom; ideology is the root cause – but the stakes are rising and that demands a new approach.

'So we have a choice – do we choose to turn a blind eye or do we choose to get out there and make the case for our British values.’

The Prime Minister will say the Government’s choice is to ‘take on this poisonous ideology with resolve, determination and the goal of a building a greater Britain’.

The counter-extremism strategy will target militants even if they do not specifically advocate violence – as well as racists, anti-Semites and those who spread conspiracy theories.

Internet firms will also be ordered to work more closely with the police to remove online propaganda.

Ministers want greater use of available technology which the web giants use to take down child abuse images.

The Islamic State group produces 38 unique pieces of propaganda a day.

Robert Hannigan, the head of GCHQ, has accused the likes of Twitter and Facebook of being ‘the command and control networks of choice’ for terrorists.

He said US-based tech firms were ‘in denial’ about the misuse of their services by fanatics, who could use them to facilitate mass murder. Mr Hannigan added that the companies must do more to help.

Some £5million will be shared out among groups committed to challenging extremist propaganda and producing ‘alternative narratives’.

This could include publishing a newspaper run by moderate imams.

There will also be a new drive to tackle extremism in prisons and in colleges. Yesterday, it emerged that half of inmates at Whitemoor high-security jail are Muslims.

They form the ‘biggest power bloc’ in the Category A prison, near March in Cambridgeshire, taking over from the previous ‘gangs’, according to inspectors.

Ministers are also expected to unveil powers to purge ‘extremist’ trustees from every charity in England and Wales.

In a statement, the Muslim Council of Britain said: ‘Is this new policy initiative about tackling alienation, or seeking more securitisation?’

Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham backed Mr Cameron, saying extremism is ‘the greatest challenge of our age and the Prime Minister is right to devote his focus to it’.

But he also said the Conservative leader ‘needs to take care to make sure the measures are not heavy-handed’.

Mr Burnham added: ‘If he’s not careful, they could have the opposite effect and fuel resentment, division and a sense of victimisation.’

Currently, anybody guilty of sexual offences against children is prevented from working with young people by the Disclosure and Barring Service, which holds a list of their criminal convictions.

Employers must contact the DBS when employing people who might come into contact with children or vulnerable adults.

In future, the service will also ban anybody with a conviction or civil order for terrorist or extremist activity.

This could include making hate-filled speeches or handing out hardline Islamist literature.