Sajid Javid can combat the extremists’ narrative

The government will launch its new counter-terrorism strategy next week, I write in The Sun today. It’ll also introduce a new bill to ensure longer sentences for terrorists.

This strategy will see more resources for the Prevent programme in high priority areas such as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford. There’ll are plans too, to recruit over a thousand more staff to the security services so that a greater number of suspects can be kept under close surveillance at any one time.

There’ll be steps taken to ensure that those released from prison are monitored more closely once they have been released. There’ll also be a fresh push to get the tech companies to do more to combat terrorist material online.

But, perhaps, the most important thing about this strategy is the Home Secretary introducing it. Sajid Javid is a walking rejection of the extremists’ argument that Britain is inherently prejudiced against Muslims.