May announces new counter-extremism commission, review of co

The British Parliament is back to business as Queen Elizabeth II opened a new legislative session and laid out an agenda for the nation’s future. Just hours after the Queen’s speech, Prime Minister Theresa May announced plans for a civil disaster task force, a new commission for tackling extremism, as well as a review of the nation’s counter-terror strategy. She also vowed to defeat extremism.

She said: "We will review our counter-terrorism strategy to ensure the police and security services have all the powers they need and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism related offenses are sufficient to keep people safe.

"We will work to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace, to prevent the spread of extremism and terrorist planning and encourage tech companies to do more to remove harmful content from their networks and we will establish a new commission for countering extremism as a statutory body to help fight hatred and extremism in the same way as we have fought racism, because this extremism is every bit as insidious and destructive to our values and we will stop at nothing to defeat it."