Quilliam funding crisis: a solution must be found

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At a time when the security service continues to warn of ongoing threats to our security it is vital that the work of Quilliam continues, says Paul Goggins MP.

MPs are urging the government to provide the Quilliam Foundation with a transitional grant of £150,000 in order to ensure that they have sufficient time to find alternative sources of funding.

Quilliam is a secular think-tank dedicated to countering extremist ideology. It was set up in 2008 by two former Islamist extremists. The Foundation was told in December that they would no longer be eligible for core funding from the Home Office and would in future have to bid for specific projects.

Tackling terrorism means taking on the thinking that lies behind it. Five weeks ago the prime minister made a speech in Munich in which he called on the international community to strengthen its resolve in confronting Islamist extremism. He drew a clear distinction between followers of Islam and those who are committed to an Islamist political ideology that opposes Western values and underpins terrorist violence. The challenge he articulated lies at the heart of Quilliam’s work, yet they are now just days from closure following the withdrawal of government funding.

Quilliam has become a unique source of knowledge on extremism in the UK and in particular on Islamist extremism. They have advised Cabinet ministers and senior civil servants and appear regularly in the media. Most important of all they have been prepared to take this crucial debate forward on university campuses and in local mosques.

The current instability in the Middle East makes Quilliam's work even more important. We need to deal at source with the ideology that underpins terrorist violence and they are helping to develop a narrative that gives young people a renewed confidence in rejecting those who seek to radicalise them.

The MPs are not opposed to the withdrawal of core funding from Quilliam – indeed greater use of independent funding will further strengthen their credibility. But the switch is happening too fast and risks the organisation going out of business altogether.

At a time when the security service continues to warn of ongoing threats to our security it is vital that ministers find the money to enable Quilliam’s work to continue.

Paul Gogginswas elected Labour MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East in 1997. A former Home Office and Northern Ireland minister, he currently sits on the Intelligence and Security Committee.

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