Government targets far-right groups

| Wednesday, 21 February 2007 Source: ITV News

The Government has said it is stepping up its fight against the "myths and misconceptions" promoted by far-right groups like the British National Party.

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly accused far-right extremists of promoting violence and division by peddling in falsehoods about Britain's multi-racial society.

Ms Kelly said strong leadership was needed to correct these untruths spread by "poisonous" extremist groups.

She said this would be particularly important during election campaigns, such as last year's local authority polls when the BNP doubled its number of councillors to 52.

Ms Kelly was speaking at the launch of a new report highlighting English language skills as the key to helping immigrants integrate successfully into British society.

The interim report by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion floated proposals to require spouses from overseas to pass an English test before joining their husbands or wives in the UK.

And it suggested that translation services for migrants should be scaled back to allow a greater focus on English language tuition.

Ms Kelly indicated support for the Commission's argument that translation services should not be allowed to become a "crutch", removing the need for migrants to learn the language of their new home.

And she said she would "study carefully" their other recommendations when she is presented with a final report in June this year.

But she told the launch, at Charlton Athletic Football Club in south-east London, that efforts to help newcomers integrate must go hand-in-hand with a struggle against the far-right to "win the hearts and minds" of communities from all racial backgrounds.

There is no room for complacency if Britain is to avoid the emergence of a far-right political figure like Jean-Marie Le Pen in France or Joerg Haider in Austria, she warned.

Extremists are targeting both traditional white communities and settled ethnic minority groups who now see new waves of immigrants arriving in the UK, said Ms Kelly.

"These are the communities that far-right extremists are determined to divide through the exploitation of myths and misperceptions," she said.

"The far-right is still with us, still poisonous. Their policies are as unacceptable and ugly now as they were in the 1930s when the communities of the East End stood together against Mosley's brownshirts.

"And they remain a fringe element because the overwhelming majority of British people reject their message of hate. But we all have a duty to remain vigilant.

"And it is because of this that I am determined to achieve a step change in the Government's work to tackle far right extremists."