The second is for the Tories. When a nation is divided along formidable identity-defining lines – such as its attitude towards migrants – those divisions don’t always go away at the cast of a ballot.
Debbie Abrahams, Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, who instigated the DWP select committee’s inquiry, said: “The mountain of evidence that was put before the select committee by religious organisations, academics and charities, not to mention those actually affected by inappropriate sanctions themselves, pointed overwhelmingly to a system that is inhumane and deliberately created to skew unemployment figures.”
Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “The committee’s recommendation for a full and independent review, which looks at the legislative framework of sanctions, gets to the heart of the problem. The law and rules on sanctions are a complicated and confusing mess which need urgent, comprehensive reform.”
Rachael Orr, head of Oxfam’s UK poverty programme, said: “MPs are right: it is time for the government to pause and think again on benefit sanctions.
“Sanctions have helped fuel the steep rise in food bank use which is nothing short of a national scandal, yet there is scant evidence that this tough approach is effective in getting people back to work.”
“Chris Grayling wants more clarity on its impact on prisons. Theresa Villiers wants more consultation with Northern Ireland, where extremism is obviously historically a big issue. Eric Pickles wants work to be done on the impact on communities and faiths and Nicky Morgan wants more work done on the role of Ofsted,” said a Westminster source.
Instead, the home secretary outlined a list of measures a majority Conservative government would introduce, including closure orders for premises being used by extremists, banning orders, and a review of the impact of sharia law in Britain. The package would include a positive campaign to promote British values.
May said the new extremism analysis unit “will help us to develop a new engagement policy – which will set out clearly for the first time with which individuals and organisations the government and public sector should engage and should not engage”.
She added: “This will make sure nobody unwittingly lends legitimacy or credibility to extremists or extremist organisations, and will make it very clear that government should engage with people directly and through their elected representatives – not just through often self-appointed and unrepresentative community leaders.”
She said it was known from the Trojan horse affair in Birmingham schools that extremists use entryist tactics to infiltrate legitimate organisations to promote their own agendas.
“The counter-entryism strategy will ensure that government, the public sector and civil society as a whole will be more resilient against this danger,” the home secretary said in a speech in Westminster.
The move goes far beyond current powers to ban violent extremist and terrorist organisations and paves the way for a range of non-violent legal organisations to be put on a blacklist and boycotted by the government.
David Cameron, for example, has promised for the last five years to ban the non-violent radical Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir but it has failed to meet the legal criteria to be banned.
The Home Office defines extremism as “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of armed forces whether in this country or overseas”.
A recent Home Office consultation produced many comments that a much tighter definition was needed and such vague terms could catch a wide range of organisations. Those blacklisted would be likely to mount legal challenges to the decision.
In outlining her list of possible new measures that a majority Conservative government would introduce, May revived the idea of closing down “extremist” mosques, new “extremism officers” in prisons, a review of how Sharia courts impact in England and Wales, a review of citizenship laws to ensure respect for British values, and a review of unregulated “supplementary” schools.
The home secretary called for a new partnership to defeat the extremists. “To those who do not want to join this new partnership, to those who choose consciously to reject our values and the basic principles of our society, the message is equally clear: the game is up. We will no longer tolerate your behaviour.”
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “Everyone other than the extremists agree that we should robustly defend and actively promote the pluralistic values our society rightly holds in esteem.
“But it isn’t enough for the home secretary to say it, she needs to act.
“We need to work in as many communities as possible, throughout the UK, to support civil society and defeat extremism. Like all the people the Guardian spoke to in the queue she was sceptical about Richard III’s villainous reputation. “History is written by the victors,” she said. “The Tudors had a vested interest in blackening his name. Look at Henry VII and many others who committed terrible crimes.”
Illustrating the festival spirit which had taken hold, with local businesses selling tea and coffee to those queuing, Fraser-King had met some locals who were going to take the three of them to see some of the other more commonplace sights in Leicester before they began the drive home.
People will be able to see the coffin at the cathedral all day on Tuesday and up to 12.30pm on Wednesday, before the reburial ceremony on Thursday which will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
A cathedral spokesman said: “We have been surprised and delighted by the number of people who have turned out. We extended the opening hours today to help accommodate that interest and we look forward to more people turning up
“And we should never tie the hands of our agencies and the police in confronting dangerous, violent extremists. The government’s record is one of making that harder, not easier.”
The Department for Education statisticians said: “To date there has been no systematic approach to comparing the performance of these organisations. There is a growing need to show the impact that academy chains and local authorities have on school performance both in aggregate and relative to each other.”