The British government will today admit that millions of pounds have been wasted on overseas anti-extremism projects which have failed to imporve the security of the UK.
Home Secretary Theresa May will concede that part of the £63m spent each year to combat extremism overseas has in fact ended up financing groups with hardline beliefs.
As an alternative, May is set to commit more funds to identifying homegrown threats in prisons, universities and the health service.
The Government will ensure that no more cash will be given “to organisations that hold extremist views or support terrorist-related activity of any kind”.
The new strategy will include a renewed focus on websites that promote extremist views, with a “national blocking list” proposed.
May has previously criticised universities for their “complacency” in tackling Islamic extremism on campus, saying that for too long they have not been sufficiently willing to recognise what was happening.
“We want to explore the potential for violent and unlawful URL lists to be voluntarily incorporated into independent national blocking lists,” the new strategy will say.
“Internet filtering across the public estate is essential.
“We want to ensure that users in schools, libraries, colleges and immigration removal centres are unable to access unlawful material.”
