The past months have, of course, been dominated by our collective efforts in response to COVID-19.
A crisis will often bring out the best in people, and this has been no exception, with countless examples across the country of neighbourhoods pulling together and councils doing all we can to support the most vulnerable.
But we have also seen the worst in others, with some looking to spin a more divisive story and exploit the pandemic, to play off widespread fear and uncertainty to extend their reach.
Extremists have long adapted common themes to point the finger at certain communities. Recent months have seen narratives blaming specific groups – nationalities, religions, ages – for the origin and spread of the virus, and for breaking control measures.
We’ve seen, too, an unprecedented mainstream interest in conspiracy theories linked to the outbreak and increasingly to vaccination programmes – drawing in a broader demographic than we’ve seen before, united in a deep mistrust of government and mainstream media.
Last summer, we saw large rises in the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by police, up a third in June 2020 compared with the previous year.
Counter terrorism police recently noted an increase in hateful extremism-related material online during the pandemic. Councils have also reported significant increases in hate crime and community tensions, with a resurgence in racist and racialised narratives not seen for some time.
“We have seen some looking to spin a more divisive story”
Our collective efforts, alongside our statutory and community partners, to counter extremism continue to play a vital dual role – in responding to the many social harms from extremism at a local level and as a critical part of early intervention work to counter ideology and activists who can radicalise people and draw them into criminality.
As we look ahead to the post-COVID-19 landscape, with fears about economic decline and rising unemployment (traditionally fertile ground for extremist narratives), and the May elections presenting yet another potential focal point for activity, we cannot afford to take our foot off the pedal.
“Our strength in tackling extremism really is in our numbers”
As individual councils, as a sector and as a country, our strength in tackling extremism really is in our numbers. It is in uniting – in working together to build communities where divisive and harmful views and behaviours do not go unchallenged, do not become normalised, and, ultimately, become impossible to take seed.
Over the past three years, the Special Interest Group on Countering Extremism (SIGCE) has provided invaluable support to councils across England and Wales to tackle extremism and promote cohesion.
We are really proud of what the SIGCE network has achieved, bringing councils and partners together through seminars, roundtables, regional councillor networks and an online platform, to build an understanding of activists and ideology, and develop and share practice around disrupting activity, engaging communities and fostering resilience.
The future of counter-extremism policy at national level remains uncertain. However, while the threats posed to our communities from extremism continue to grow, we, in partnership with the LGA, will continue to do our best to keep our communities safe.
We urge the Government to maintain investment in measures to prevent polarisation from taking hold. Without continued concerted efforts in response, we run the real risk of storing up even greater problems for the future.