MPs want probe into Muslim 'spying' claims

A committee of MPs says the probe should examine claims that schemes funded by councils under the Government's Preventing Violent Extremism scheme have been used by police and intelligence officers to monitor innocent people.

The spying allegations are just one concern raised by MPs about the scheme, which they accuse of "stigmatising and potentially alienating" the very people it is trying to work with by an "unhelpful" focus purely on Muslims rather than other extremist groups.

The Government is also accused of making a mistake by deciding that a department trying to build community cohesion should run a programme to tackle terrorism. The Communities and Local Government committee says that some of the good work done has been "tainted" by the link.

MPs said that official denials had failed to ease concerns among many groups about the real purpose of the Prevent initiative, which was established after the September 11 attacks in the United States and intensified after the 2005 London bombings, in which three of the bombers were from Yorkshire.