Anglesey named in anti-racism report as one of the areas ‘most at risk’ from far-right extremism

Anglesey has been named as one of the areas most at risk from far-right extremism in a report by Hope not Hate.

The advocacy group that campaigns against racism and fascism identified 52 areas vulnerable to the rise of far-right extremism in England and Wales – with Anglesey the only part of Wales included.

Each of the 52 areas have been singled out as they suffered a significant downturn in the pandemic, have a history of slow recovery from economic shocks, and display “less liberal than average” attitudes to migration and multiculturalism, Hope not Hate said.

According to the report’s authors Anglesey was less diverse than other areas and could be particularly affected by the pandemic because of its reliance on tourism.

“These places often have a lower skills base than the national average, and a lower level of economic resilience, hence they may be less able to bounce back from a major economic hit,” they said.

“But they are also less likely to have experienced major issues around acute poverty or unemployment prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Local attitudes in these areas, which are mostly Conservative-controlled, are often socially conservative, though there is little history of high-profile cohesion challenges.”

‘Resilience’

The report also found that more than three-quarters of the British public do not have faith in Boris Johnson’s plans to level up society.

Some 59% of people polled by the charity Hope not Hate did not believe the Prime Minister will succeed in levelling up the country, while a further 21% do not know if he will be successful.

It commissioned Focaldata to survey 1,512 respondents between July 20 and 21.

Rosie Carter, head of policy at Hope not hate, said: “To truly succeed in ‘levelling up’ and to fill the public with confidence in the Government’s ability to create meaningful change, we need to look beyond definitions of ‘levelling up’ which relate purely to economic infrastructure.

“We need the Government to ‘build back resilient’ instead, by investing in integration and by supporting community groups, which strengthen community resilience but have been lost to years of austerity.”

A UK Government spokeswoman responded: “Levelling up all corners of the UK is at the very heart of this Government’s agenda.

“We are empowering local leaders to seize their own destiny by funding projects that support social cohesion and tackle hate crime, enabling communities to thrive.”