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Terrorism and Community Relations

I am pleased to have this opportunity to debate our report, and to hear more from the Minister about how the Government intend to tackle some of the problems highlighted in it. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) on his chairmanship and leadership of the Committee during the making of the report. It will be evident to anyone listening to the debate that he takes a close personal interest in, and feels a sense of commitment to, these issues. That sense of commitment was evident earlier this year, when he was anxious for certain issues to be highlighted and more urgency to be shown, and to make the important connection between anti-terrorism laws and operations and the need for a wider strategy that reaches out to and engages communities, so as to make them feel part of the process. That important point cannot be over-emphasised. Although the report considers some uncomfortable issues and talks about tensions—it is right to look at the tensions when they exist—at the same time we should never lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of members of all communities in the country, including the Muslim community, live harmoniously. They work together, get on together, go to schools together and want to get on with their lives in a peaceful and harmonious way. We should never lose sight of that. At the same time, we have to consider the challenges outlined in the report. The right hon. Gentleman was right to say that many points of our inquiry covered the same ground as the Cantle report. It is important to highlight and scrutinise the follow-up to that report. One of the challenges that faces our communities, especially in some of our northern cities, is the way in which communities lead peaceful but separate lives, side by side, without sufficient points of contact. That was an important part of the background to the report. There was also a more immediate challenge in the impact of international terrorism and extremism on our communities. There are no grounds for complacency. We know now that although the Government did not entirely accept our conclusion, they had plenty of evidence that it was the case. Our conclusion was a fair picture. We noted:"““We conclude that community relations have deteriorated, although the picture is by no means uniform, and that there are many positive examples to set against our overall assessment. International terrorism and the response to it have contributed to this deterioration, particularly in relations between the majority community and the Muslim community.””" It goes without saying that the challenge is significant. It is likely that part of the wicked intention of the terrorists and extremists is that there should be collateral damage to community relations as a result of their acts. They are likely to have made that calculation and to have looked to every possible recruiting sergeant and source of grievance that will arise as a result of the wicked acts that they have carried out.