Kelly Looks to Fight Extremism by Targeting Educational 'Hotspots'

Ruth Kelly, the Communities Minister, will meet with a group of local authority officials today, looking to tell that the battle of extremism in the UK should be fought by all communities - and not just by the Muslim community.

|PIC1|She will look to promote that extremism includes the threat from the "still poisonous" far-right.

"The new extremism we're facing is the single biggest security issue for local communities," Kelly will say.

She will also push for a review of measures aimed to stop extremists influencing students in universities and colleges.

Kelly will unveil plans to target Islamist extremist "hotpsots" by encouraging the council and police chiefs to pick out mosques, schools and universities where young Muslims are brainwashed, the Daily Mirror has reported.

In addition, the Guardian newspaper has reported that university lecturers and staff were to be asked to check on Muslim students and to report on those they suspected to be supporters of terrorism.

The meeting comes as the government continues to draw criticism from Islamic groups over the issue of whether Muslim women who insist on wearing veils are hindering integration.

Last week, Ms Kelly said her department would give financial support to Muslim groups that prove they are trying to root out extremism within their ranks.

On Monday, she will broaden the debate by telling representatives from 20 "key" councils and senior police officers at the meeting in London: "This is not just a problem for Muslim communities. The far right is still with us, still poisonous, still trying to create and exploit divisions. Extremism is an issue for all of us. We all must play our part in responding to it."

She will urge the councils to respond to the ways the world has changed since the 9/11 attacks on the US and the 7/7 bombings in London.

"The government has had to change and respond to that, and we appeal to local authorities to do the same."

Her appeal to all faiths and communities comes as tensions rise regarding a row over Muslim veils. Commons leader Jack Straw sparked controversy almost two weeks ago when he admitted to asking Muslim women to remove their veils when visiting his Blackburn constituency offices.

Following that, the row has been inflamed last week when a Muslim teaching assistant was suspended for refusing to remove her veil in class, after students complained they could not understand her with the veil.

It has emerged that the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Muhammad Abdul Bari, has written to Kelly, claiming that a recent "drip feed" of ministerial statements over the issue has "stigmatised" the entire Muslim community.