{"id":815099,"date":"2026-03-09T20:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/815099\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:16:14","slug":"action-plan-launched-to-build-stronger-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/815099\/","title":{"rendered":"Action plan launched to\u202fbuild stronger communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of families,\u202ffriends\u202fand neighbours will feel a stronger sense of community,\u202funity\u202fand national pride thanks to renewed efforts to stamp out extremism, hate and division announced today.<\/p>\n<p>Today the government is launching a rallying call for action,\u202fsetting out the first steps towards a more connected,\u202fcohesive\u202fand resilient United Kingdom \u2013 a place where neighbour continues to look out for neighbour and people come together with a shared sense of values, pride, and belonging.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The action plan follows decades of rapid\u202fchange\u202f\u2013 technological advancements, demographic change, local industries collapsing, the increasing cost of living and the decline of vital public services.\u202fThis\u202fhas caused a strain on\u202fsocial cohesion.\u202fBad\u202factors, including from abroad,\u202fhave\u00a0sought\u202fto stoke\u202fcommunity tensions and promote toxic division and extremist ideology in our communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed will tell the House of Commons:\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Today, through the publication of Protecting What Matters, we set out the first steps towards a more confident, cohesive, and resilient United Kingdom. This plan is what patriotism means to this government. We choose to celebrate our national successes and historic achievements, we choose to come together in the best of times and the worst of times, and we choose to take on those who try to divide us.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This\u202fpublication\u202f\u2013 Protecting What Matters \u2013 puts the emphasis on healing divided communities, setting out clear expectations around what it means to live together and integrate into society, tackling those trying to subvert our shared values and\u202fultimately promoting\u202fpride,\u202funity\u202fand tolerance.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This comes as the latest statistics show that hate crime is rising, with Jewish people disproportionately\u202fmore\u202ftargeted by hate crime than any other group.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To tackle antisemitism head on, the government is investing at record levels to scale up security at synagogues and schools, clamping down on\u202fantisemitic extremism,\u202fand rolling out\u202ftraining on antisemitism\u202fin the\u202fworkplace.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims are also at record levels,\u202fwith almost half of these crimes targeted towards the Muslim community and many living in fear that they will be targeted because of how they look or assumptions over where they come from.\u202f\u202fThis government has a duty to\u202fact but\u202fcannot tackle something that\u202fhas\u202fnot\u202fbeen defined.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The government is taking the historic step of adopting a non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility\u202fwhich makes it clear what is unacceptable prejudice, discrimination and hatred directed at Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crucially,\u202fthis definition\u202fprotects\u202fthe\u202ffundamental right to freedom of speech\u202fwhile protecting people from\u202funacceptable\u202fabuse\u202fand violence. A special representative on anti-Muslim hostility will also be appointed to support action to strengthen understanding,\u202freporting\u202fand response.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This sits alongside a new suite of measures to bring communities across the country together:\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Tough action on extremism with stronger powers to shut down charities\u202fpromoting extremism\u202fand transformed capability to disrupt extremists, including stopping hate preachers entering the UK, and an annual State of Extremism report.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Clear expectations will be set around integration for people looking to settle in the UK, focused on shared language, local\u202fparticipation\u202fand respect for shared values. To support this, the Government will look at how English is taught, and if\u202fnew technology\u202fcan help more people can speak the language confidently.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>A \u00a3500,000 investment in community-led school linking projects will bring children from\u00a0different backgrounds\u00a0together, helping them forge friendships and understand what they have in common. And tougher oversight of home education \u2013 including the first-ever mandatory register of children not in school \u2013 will ensure no child\u00a0misses out on\u00a0the shared values and experiences that bind communities together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This all builds on the \u00a35.8 billion committed to hundreds of areas through the Pride in Place programme, with power put in the hands of local people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of families,\u202ffriends\u202fand neighbours will feel a stronger sense of community,\u202funity\u202fand national pride thanks to renewed efforts to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-815099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116201061593415886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}