A National Union of Students’ (NUS) campaign has become a “vehicle for extremist interests”, a report has warned.

The “Students not Suspects” campaign, which has been part of NUS policy since 2015, encourages universities to rally against the Government’s flagship counter-radicalisation policy Prevent.

But according to the Henry Jackson Society, a counter-extremism think tank, the campaign has led to the NUS partnering with a number of questionable organisations.

“Under the pretence of wanting to abolish Prevent, leading ‘Students Not Suspects’ activists have hosted extremist speakers at a series of unbalanced events,” the report said.

“Many of them belong to organisations that have Islamist links and troubling histories of intolerance and sympathy for terrorism.”

In March 2015, the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (CTSA) imposed a statutory duty on universities and other public bodies, requiring them to pay “due regard to the need to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism”.

The bill faced a backlash from the NUS which said it would “not engage” with the strategy, adding that it would “encourage Unions and institutions to not comply with or legitimise” Prevent.

The NUS claimed that Prevent sought “to monitor and control Muslim students” and forced academic staff to spy on students.