The UK’s terror threat level has been raised partly because of a growth in activity related to Islamist ideology, according to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
She told The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “I don’t think anyone is skirting around any issue. To be honest, one of the reasons why the threat level in this country was raised on Thursday of this week was because of the growth of terrorist-related activity linked to Islamist ideology, and also linked to far-right ideology as well.
“No one’s trying to sugarcoat this problem. We will tackle it wherever we find it. I heard the Home Secretary earlier this week talking, as a very senior Muslim figure in this country, talking about how also it was incumbent upon people from the Muslim community to condemn antisemitism.
“The experience I have had, actually, when I’ve done interfaith work, whether that’s in Swindon, where I’m the MP currently, whether in Lewisham, the place that you referred to earlier, is that there are a lot of good people that want to make a difference.
“There are some people who seem to have poison running in their veins, and we have to build understanding of one another’s cultures, one another’s history, and we need to share the British values of tolerance and respect.”
Asked what the root cause of antisemitism is, she said: “I think it’s found in lots of different walks of life, and that’s why, a couple of hours actually before the attacks happened on Wednesday, one of the things that government had done under the leadership of Sir David Bell was launch a call for evidence about what more we can do in our schools, our colleges, on university campuses.
“A lot of people absorb information, antisemitic content online, and that content is illegal if it is antisemitic and we’re starting to take action through the Online Safety Act. But whether it’s online, in our schools, in our public services, in the day-to-day conversations that everyone has, I think the Chief Rabbi was right when he said this week that we need more people in the country to voice how abhorrent this is.
“It’s also why, if you look back at what the Home Secretary has done, she took action to ban the al-Quds March earlier this year.”
She added: “ I think the British Jewish community can and should trust our Prime Minister, because I know from speaking to him, speaking to the Home Secretary, that this is a government that is absolutely determined to drive this vile ideology of antisemitism from our country and from our society.
“What happened in Golders Green on Wednesday this week was utterly appalling and abhorrent, and I think the Prime Minister was right to say that an attack on the British Jewish community is an attack on Britain, full stop.
“It’s an attack on our British values, our British decency, our British security. And I think Sarah Sackman, the MP for Golders Green, was right to say as well, that targeting the Jewish community in this way is absolutely unconscionable.
“That’s why we have taken steps to increase the resources that the police have and the Community Safety Trust have to increase the amount of police patrols and make sure that security can be put in place for people. But this is treating the symptoms of the problem. It’s not treating the root cause.”