Attendees included representatives of the newly-established Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board and Forums against Extremism, plus organisations working with young Muslims and Muslim wormen. Ruth Kelly made clear that all Britain's communities were potential victims of terrorist plans and we will only defeat them if we remain united. She underlined the Government's commitment to support Muslim communities in tackling extremism. Ms Kelly described the meetings as "very constructive and forward looking".
She said:
"There is a battle for hearts and minds in our communities with those who want to push extremist messages and we all have a responsibility to play our part in tackling that.
"This is an issue I believe my new department, with a powerful new remit of tackling extremism and cohesion as well as close contacts with local government is well placed to drive this forward.
"Communities themselves must also play a key role in taking on this challenge."
Action was already being taken by Government and Muslim communities in response to the Preventing Extremism Together report published last year. Also, Ministers from across Government will visit cities across the UK from this month to speak and to listen to those in our Muslim communities. They will be holding meetings in Leicester, Bolton, Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham, Leeds, Manchester, London and Burnley. And Ruther Kelly will launch the first-ever Commission for Integration and Cohesion later this month. ❏