Further Reading
Member News
Ministers must do more to "stop young people getting on the conveyer belt to terrorism and extremism", according to a Conservative MP.
Shadow communities minister Paul Goodman said debates on the government's counter-terror policies had focused on the limit of pre-charge detention.
Speaking ahead of a Westminster Hall debate, the MP for Wycombe said in an ePolitix.com interview that enabling police to hold terror suspects for 42 days risked alienating the Muslim community.
While it would not in itself act as a recruiting sergeant for extremists, the move could "dry up intelligence coming from the community", he said.
He added that it would "be extremely badly received by mainstream, moderate Muslim leaders who I know and have met and have spoken to, not to mention young Muslims on the street".
"What I want to propose are other ways forward," he said. "I think that throughout the Muslim world, and here in the UK, there are a lot of very well-intentioned, very well-monied, moderate mainstream Muslims."
The MP also suggested that an "institute of British Islam" be set up to examine "how Islam in Britain and mainstream life in Britain can work more closely and harmoniously together".
And he called on the government to "marry up" private and voluntary money with mainstream mosques, "who have a crucial role in winning the hearts and minds of young people".
"It's the mainstream mosques in the end that have got the religious legitimacy to turn round to al-Qaeda and to extremists and to say 'you're wrong'," he said.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd