GB News has forced Labour to disavow a Home Office report labelling concerns around mass migration and grooming gangs as “right-wing extremism”.
Following GB News’s expose, a Government source told this broadcaster that the “paper was not approved by Home Office Ministers”.
The report, which was leaked to GB News, gave an overview on extremism in Britain and was written by civil servants in the Home Office.
The paper claimed that grooming gangs are used as a “grievance narrative” by “right-wing extremists”.
It also labelled the belief that “Western culture is under threat from mass migration” as an “extremist” view.
The Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU) memo warned “right-wing extremist narratives (particularly around immigration and policing) are in some cases ‘leaking’ into mainstream debates”.
The report cited concerns around two-tier policing as an example of this “extremist” narrative in action.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman told GB News: “This humiliating climbdown shows how out of touch Labour are on immigration.
“Millions of British people worry about what is happening to their country under Labour. They don’t want to see the fabric of their society changed by mass migration.
“To paint them as racists, and ‘conspiracy theorists’ is reprehensible.
“To trivialise the industrial scale rape of young women is outrageous and the attempt to coerce public opinion through censoring social media is beyond disgraceful.”
She added: “The embarrassing retraction of this document brings to light Labour’s duplicity on immigration.
“I’d like to thank GB News for their hard work exposing this matter and ensuring the public knows what Labour thinks of the public behind closed doors.
“It’s clear that Labour are the party of open borders and will continue to waste money on their hollow words and inaction on immigration.”
RICU, which was founded in 2007 to tackle extremism and terrorism, authored the report.
The report claimed that concern about illegal immigration was a “far right” and “extremist” view
PA
RICU is based in the Home Office, and its memo, sent to ministers last month, was criticised by figures across the political divide.
Following GB News’s reporting, a Labour source told us: “Many of the points [RICU] makes are completely wrong and do not reflect the views of the Government.
“In particular, child sexual abuse and grooming are immensely serious crimes, which devastate the lives of victims, and should always be discussed in the most serious terms and treated in the most serious way, which is why we are planning to strengthen the law to go after more of those who carry out this appalling abuse.
“For many years academics and analysts on radicalisation have used phrases like ‘grievance narratives’ – the use of that phrase in this context was clearly wrong, and ministers have instructed officials to ensure there is no repetition of it in future Government documents.”
The source continued: “On the other issues raised, the Government has said many times that it shares the very legitimate concerns people across the country have on immigration and small boat crossings.
“This is why we recently announced an additional £150million of investment in border security and have committed to cut net migration from record levels under the Tories.
“Keeping the public safe is the first duty of any government and we take the threat from violent extremism very seriously.
“The majority of this threat is from Islamist extremism, followed by far right extremism and other violent fixations with growing threats and radicalisation among teenagers.
“We are looking at ways to ensure the Government is better prepared to respond where public safety is at risk.”
Robert Bates, the founder of the Centre for Migration Control, said: “This is a significant victory for GB News and ordinary voters across the country.
“The Home Office is so inundated with left-wing activists, masquerading as civil servants, that the department is now going AWOL and attempting to dictate government policy.
“Concerns about migration and the national shame of grooming gangs is the mainstream view. In fact, not recognising the severity of these issues is an extremist position to adopt.”
He added: “There must be a full investigation into how civil servants working on terrorism and extremism policy could label ordinary worries that millions of British people hold as extremist.
“By labelling them as such while advising the Government on terrorism and extremism policy, these civil servants were attempting to shut down legitimate debate of their political opponents.
“People need to be fired for this. While it is gratifying that common sense has prevailed, it is highly concerning that this report was authored in the first place.”