Home Office: ‘two-tier’ police claims are an ‘extreme right-wing’ narrative

You can tell a government report has gone down badly when ministers are distancing themselves before it has been officially published. Today, it’s the Home Office’s ‘Rapid Analytical Sprint,’ commissioned in the aftermath of the Southport riots last August to determine future counter-extremism policy, that is causing trouble for ministers. The leaked document claims that fears over two-tier policing are an ‘extreme right wing narrative’. It also says that grooming gangs – referred to as ‘alleged group-based sexual abuse’ – are an issue exploited by the far-right to stir hatred against Muslims.

Recommendations include the police increasing the use of controversial ‘non-crime hate incidents’ and the introduction of a new crime of ‘harmful communications’ to tackle online abuse of MPs. Both suggestions seem somewhat tin-eared, to say the least. The first recommendation appears to contradict a government promise, made after the row over the police investigation into Daily Telegraph columnist Allison