A year after from the riots that hit 29 towns and cities, there are new concerns about a summer of unrest. In recent weeks we have seen protests in Epping, Norwich, Leeds, Southampton and Nottinghamshire. Many local authorities are on tenterhooks.

I wasn’t surprised by the riots; the writing had been on the wall for years. What did surprise me was how taken aback Whitehall was, how ­badly prepared in measuring, preventing and responding to such crises, and the failure to have developed a strategic approach to support local authorities.

Having conducted independent reviews on extremism and social cohesion, I’ve concluded that Whitehall, and in particular the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, have been asleep at the wheel. For years the far right has seized on the issue of asylum accommodation to fuel division and civil unrest. In 2022, anti-migrant and far-right activists visited asylum accommodation 252 times, a 102 per cent increase from 2021. In 2023, there was a 13-fold increase in such activity.

When I visited places such as Sunderland or Barrow-in-Furness in the years before the riots, I saw the same pattern as last summer. Communities with legitimate local concerns are targeted by extreme right-wing groups; flashpoint incidents are seized on; disinformation is spread; other extremists are encouraged to fan the flames online and to travel to the area to ignite violence and disorder.

Continued low economic growth, high inequality and the cost of living crisis are fuelling grievances and anger. Disillusionment with democracy and distrust of government, political parties and the mainstream media demonstrate weakening democratic resilience.

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So Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, is right to stress that the social fabric is “fraying at the edges”. Yet we still do not fully understand where the hotspots of extremism are and why some areas are more resilient to riots or extremist activity than others.

We have also reached a stalemate with counterextremism policy. As we saw in Epping, fascist and neo-Nazi groups including the Homeland party, Patriotic Alternative, Blood and Honour and White Vanguard, have been playing a key role. All continue to operate legally because they don’t meet the threshold for terrorism proscription.

One potential solution would be a new set of proscription offences for those who are actively and vocally, repeatedly and persistently, promoting the same extremist narratives as proscribed terrorist groups, who are motivated by and intending to advance a racial, religious or political ideology and where evidence suggests they are fuelling public disorder and violence and are radicalising children.

I welcome the government’s recognition that addressing deprivation is needed. Some £15 million has been made available to those places worst hit by the riots to support immediate recovery. But recovery is not the same as taking a preventative response.

After last summer, polling showed that 10 per cent of the population shared the rioters’ views or had sympathy for rioting and violence against refugees and 8 per cent believed violent protests outside refugee accommodation were justified. Seven per cent were ashamed of our multiethnic society.

These attitudes are not caused by deprivation, nor will they be magically eradicated by government spending in local areas. These attitudes are formed by negative and in some cases dehumanising perceptions, often inflamed by extremist narratives.

The government’s last integration and cohesion plan failed to recognise the different audiences in our society. How will the communities ministry engage with disenfranchised communities who may hold conspiratorial views, sympathise with extremism and violence and do not trust politicians?

Having spent two and half years working on the last official review, I put forward a number of recommendations. I’m still waiting for a response. I hope the government moves into delivery and implementation and quickly.

Dame Sara Khan was counterextremism commissioner, 2018-2021, and the government’s independent adviser on social cohesion and resilience, 2021-2024