UK at serious risk of chronic democratic decline, ex-counter-extremism tsar warns

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

A former counter-extremism chief warned the growing threat of online disinformation and misinformation creates a “permissive environment” for extremism to flourish in the UK.

Sara Khan, who led a 2024 review for the UK Government, gave evidence as the Senedd’s equality committee launched an inquiry into social cohesion on March 3.

Dame Sara raised concerns about an “evolving and accelerated extremism landscape”, with significant growth in the far right and extreme narratives becoming “mainstreamed”.

She said: “We’re seeing, I think, quite stark warnings about growing levels of disillusionment with democracy, distrust in our democratic institutions.”

She told the committee that trust in government is at an all-time low, with falling levels of trust in the police, media and other institutions.

‘Chronic decline’

Dame Sara warned: “I think the UK is at serious risk of chronic democratic decline. What I showed in my review was that Whitehall simply does not have a strategic approach to A, measure this but B, to also prevent and respond to it.”

Jenny Rathbone, who chairs the committee, asked what action, if any, the UK Government has taken or committed to in response to the review which focused on England.

Dame Sara said she has not had any response to the report’s 15 recommendations, which were published in March, warning of a lack of a counter-extremism strategy since 2021.

“That’s quite concerning,” she said. “Firstly because obviously there was the riots in the summer which affected 27 towns and cities, luckily not in Wales, but in parts of Northern Ireland and, of course, England, Many of which I predicted in my report.

“There have been many examples of similar but smaller disturbances, riots [and] violent protests that have broken out.”

‘Legal but harmful’

The former counter-extremism commissioner told the committee that the summer riots should not have been a shock to Westminster, with many early warning signs flashing.

Dame Sara raised comments from Ken McCallum, MI5’s director-general, who warned of a three-fold increase in under-18s being radicalised over the past three years.

She said: “The scale and pace of threats … – whether it’s extremism, … technological threats – threats that are seeking to undermine social cohesion, they are moving at a rapid pace and I feel the UK Government doesn’t seem to understand the seriousness.”

Dame Sara questioned whether the Online Safety Act 2023 will effectively deal with disinformation because it falls into a “legal but harmful” category.

She said: “It will be very interesting to see how Ofcom responds … particularly now when, for example, Meta has said ‘we’re now going to remove all fact checkers’ … that inevitably will mean more disinformation online, so that challenge undoubtedly is going to get worse.”

‘Pick‘n’mix extremism’

Dame Sara raised the example of disinformation that Axel Rudakubana, the Cardiff-born perpetrator of the Southport stabbings, was an illegal immigrant.

She said disinformation on one far-right X account received about five million impressions within two hours of the attack and, according to a poll, people increasingly believe the false claims.

She pointed to last month’s BBC Wales investigation on Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group, which was involved in fuelling disturbances and anger surrounding Southport.

Dame Sara said: “You’re seeing what we call salad bar or pick‘n’mix extremism, which is where individuals pick and select from different extremist ideologies.”

She also raised the threat of “incel” (involuntarily celibate) extremism – “this really pernicious and violent hatred towards women by men”.

‘Growing acceptance’

Dame Sara said: “I think we’re going to see worsening extremism, we are definitely seeing a growing acceptance of extremist narratives in a way that we weren’t seeing 20 years ago.”

She added: “The growing threat of disinformation, misinformation … create a permissive environment for extremism to flourish, as well as disillusionment with democracy.”

She told the committee: “There is no doubt that social media is playing a very critical role in undermining social cohesion but I would not put it to just social media alone.”

Dame Sara made a case for “deliberative democracy”, giving citizens a more meaningful role in public decision-making, with research showing it enhances public trust in government.

She said: “Why do people feel that their voices are not heard? The idea that people’s voices are only heard once every five years when there’s a general election – I don’t think that’s acceptable, I just don’t think that’s good enough.”