Politics

UK at serious risk of chronic democratic decline, ex-counter-extremism tsar warns

Published

1 year ago

March 3, 2025

A FORMER counter-extremism chief warned the growing threat of online disinformation and misinformation creates a “permissive environment” for extremism to flourish in the UK.

Sara Khan, who led a 2024 review for the UK Government, gave evidence as the Senedd’s equality committee launched an inquiry into social cohesion on March 3.

Dame Sara raised concerns about an “evolving and accelerated extremism landscape”, with significant growth in the far right and extreme narratives becoming “mainstreamed”.

She said: “We’re seeing, I think, quite stark warnings about growing levels of disillusionment with democracy, distrust in our democratic institutions.”

She told the committee that trust in government is at an all-time low, with falling levels of trust in the police, media and other institutions.

Dame Sara warned: “I think the UK is at serious risk of chronic democratic decline. What I showed in my review was that Whitehall simply does not have a strategic approach to A, measure this but B, to also prevent and respond to it.”

Jenny Rathbone, who chairs the committee, asked what action, if any, the UK Government has taken or committed to in response to the review which focused on England.

Dame Sara said she has not had any response to the report’s 15 recommendations, which were published in March, warning of a lack of a counter-extremism strategy since 2021.

“That’s quite concerning,” she said. “Firstly because obviously there was the riots in the summer which affected 27 towns and cities, luckily not in Wales, but in parts of Northern Ireland and, of course, England, Many of which I predicted in my report.

“There have been many examples of similar but smaller disturbances, riots [and] violent protests that have broken out.”

The former counter-extremism commissioner told the committee that the summer riots should not have been a shock to Westminster, with many early warning signs flashing.

Dame Sara raised comments from Ken McCallum, MI5’s director-general, who warned of a three-fold increase in under-18s being radicalised over the past three years.

She said: “The scale and pace of threats … – whether it’s extremism, … technological threats – threats that are seeking to undermine social cohesion, they are moving at a rapid pace and I feel the UK Government doesn’t seem to understand the seriousness.”

Dame Sara questioned whether the Online Safety Act 2023 will effectively deal with disinformation because it falls into a “legal but harmful” category.

She said: “It will be very interesting to see how Ofcom responds … particularly now when, for example, Meta has said ‘we’re now going to remove all fact checkers’ … that inevitably will mean more disinformation online, so that challenge undoubtedly is going to get worse.”

Dame Sara raised the example of disinformation that Axel Rudakubana, the Cardiff-born perpetrator of the Southport stabbings, was an illegal immigrant.

She said disinformation on one far-right X account received about five million impressions within two hours of the attack and, according to a poll, people increasingly believe the false claims.

She pointed to last month’s BBC Wales investigation on Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group, which was involved in fuelling disturbances and anger surrounding Southport.

Dame Sara said: “You’re seeing what we call salad bar or pick‘n’mix extremism, which is where individuals pick and select from different extremist ideologies.”

She also raised the threat of “incel” (involuntarily celibate) extremism – “this really pernicious and violent hatred towards women by men”.

Dame Sara said: “I think we’re going to see worsening extremism, we are definitely seeing a growing acceptance of extremist narratives in a way that we weren’t seeing 20 years ago.”

She added: “The growing threat of disinformation, misinformation … create a permissive environment for extremism to flourish, as well as disillusionment with democracy.”

She told the committee: “There is no doubt that social media is playing a very critical role in undermining social cohesion but I would not put it to just social media alone.”

Dame Sara made a case for “deliberative democracy”, giving citizens a more meaningful role in public decision-making, with research showing it enhances public trust in government.

She said: “Why do people feel that their voices are not heard? The idea that people’s voices are only heard once every five years when there’s a general election – I don’t think that’s acceptable, I just don’t think that’s good enough.”

Local Government

Pembrokeshire council Cabinet finance roles under spotlight

Published

11 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

THE NUMBER of senior Pembrokeshire councillors holding the top finance job in recent years came under the spotlight at the July meeting of the council.

A submitted question by Cllr Alan Dennison, heard at the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council asked: “Since my election in 2022, this administration has experienced a turnover of four finance cabinet members, averaging one per year.”

Those four Cabinet members with responsibility for finance were: Cllr Alec Cormack, Cllr Joshua Beynon, Cllr Alistair Cameron, and former leader Cllr Jon Harvey who has now assumed the finance role.

Cllr Dennison’s question added: “This high turnover raises concerns about the stability of the council’s financial management, particularly in light of the current fiscal challenges and in light of the recent announcement by Finance Cabinet Member number 3 [Cllr Cameron] that under this administration there has been a staggering 97 per cent increase in council tax rates since 2017, in contrast to a mere 37 per cent rise in the inflation rate.

“Could the Leader explain the rationale behind these frequent changes in leadership and what apparent benefit this has to the Pembrokeshire ratepayers?”

Back in May, a previous submitted question by Cllr Dennison asked for the increase in council tax levels since 2017.

Cllr Cameron had responded by saying the level of council tax for a Band D average property had increased by 95.7 per cent in that time.

For the 2026 to ’27 financial year, the county council part of council tax levels in the county rose by 4.6 per cent, equivalent to an extra £76 for the average Band D property, less than half last year’s increase.

The previous year saw Pembrokeshire’s council tax increased by 9.35 per cent, lower than that year’s Cabinet recommendation of 9.85 per cent.

The previous year to that saw a 12.5 per cent rise on top of previous increases of 12.5 per cent, 9.92 per cent, five per cent, 3.75 per cent, five per cent and 7.5 per cent.

The overall council tax bill is made up of the county council element, the largest part, the Dyfed-Powys Police precept, and individual town or community council elements.

Responding to Cllr Dennison’s question at the July meeting, new leader Cllr Tessa Hodgson pointed out that he had got “his facts and figures wrong,” as she had only had cabinet member for finance under her leadership, Cllr Harvey, who was “doing a great job”.

Community

Contentious DARC space radar scheme to be decided by Welsh Government

Published

11 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

THE CONTENTIOUS DARC ‘space radar’ scheme in Pembrokeshire is to be decided by Welsh Government rather than county planners, just days before it was to be debated by them.

In an application submitted earlier this year to Pembrokeshire County Council following a public consultation, the Ministry of Defence wants to install 27 radar antenna and a long list of associated works at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy for a worldwide network of sensors called the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC) to track active satellites and other objects which would utilise three sites worldwide, part of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, in the USA, the UK and Australia “enabling 360-degree coverage of the sky at all times of day and under any weather conditions”.

In late 2023, Cawdor Barracks was identified as the preferred UK site by the-then UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps.

A supporting statement says of the DARC scheme: “This capability is critical to protect and defend the services provided by satellites, ensuring continuity and resilience against collisions or debris-related incidents.

“Without DARC, the UK faces a significant risk of losing access to these vital services, which would have severe consequences for national security, economic stability, and public safety.”

St Davids City Council members unanimously opposed the pre-application consultation proposals, and public objectors have raised concerns with protests taking place outside the barracks and County Hall, Haverfordwest earlier this year, and the scheme before county planners attracted more than 1,000 objections.

Pembrokeshire-based Jerome Flynn, famous for his roles in Soldier Soldier, Robson & Jerome and more recently Game of Thrones has described the scheme as “the most unspeakably abominable planning application led by the US military, backed by Donald Trump to place 27 radar dishes right on the edge of our beloved coastal national park”.

Campaign group PARC against DARC, set up in 2024 to oppose the scheme which it has described as the militarisation of space, submitted an official request to ‘call in’ the application for DARC radar to the newly formed Plaid Cymru Welsh Government.

A ‘call-in’ means the application could be decided at Welsh Government level rather than by county planners.

The application was due to go before Pembrokeshire County Council’s next planning committee, on July 28, but has now been ‘called in by Siân Gwenllian MS, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning.

The Cabinet Minister’s letter to Pembrokeshire County Council calling in the application says: “The proposed development raises national security issues given the strategic defence nature of the proposal and is a novel planning issue.

“The proposal potentially conflicts with national policy in relation to landscape, ecology, sustainability and placemaking.

“A decision on the proposal may be controversial beyond the immediate locality, and there is already considerable public interest in the proposal.

“All these matters lead the Cabinet Minister to conclude the development is of more than local importance and the application should be determined by the Welsh Ministers.”

A PARC against DARC spokesperson, welcoming the ‘call-in,’ said: “As we made in our case to Welsh ministers, the DARC proposal is part of a weapons system designed to track and target satellites belonging to other countries around the world.

“It is being developed for the US Space Force, which was created under Donald Trump, at a time when US military spending has doubled since he took office. That is why DARC has been described as a significant escalation in the militarisation of space.”

A planned demonstration at County Hall, Haverfordwest, due to be held on July 28 when Pembrokeshire planners were to deliberate on DARC, is to go ahead as “a vigil in support of Welsh Government’s call-in decision,” PARC against DARC has said.

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council said the call-in had been received on July 21.

“As such the application is transferred to the Welsh Ministers for a decision and the application will no longer be presented to the council’s planning committee at its meeting scheduled for July 28.

“The council now awaits confirmation from the Welsh Ministers regarding the procedure and timetable that will be adopted for their consideration of the application.

“Further information will be provided once the council has been formally notified of the next steps in the decision-making process.”

Local Government

Call to end special planning delegation panel

Published

11 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A CALL to bring to an end a special Pembrokeshire council panel which decides whether some planning applications should be considered by councillors rather than planning officers is to be discussed further.

A notice of motion submitted by Councillor Huw Murphy to the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council asked: “That council consider disbanding the Planning Delegation Panel (PDP) and review the current arrangements so that planning applications delegated to officers for refusal, where a member requests further consideration, are referred directly to the Planning Committee rather than first being considered by the PDP.”

His supporting statement said: “Under the current arrangements within Pembrokeshire County Council, where a planning application has been delegated to officers and a refusal is recommended, the local county councillor may request that the application be considered by the PDP.

“The PDP then determines whether the application should proceed to full planning committee. It is considered that this additional stage introduces unnecessary bureaucracy into the planning process, leading to increased delays and costs for applicants.

“The current process can also be perceived as limiting democratic oversight, as applications may be refused by the panel without being considered by full planning committee, whose elected members bring local knowledge, experience transparency and democratic accountability to planning decisions.

“By comparison, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, which is responsible for planning across more than 30 per cent of the land area of Pembrokeshire, does not operate a planning delegation panel. Instead, planning matters are considered through its established planning procedures, and this approach appears to function effectively without the need for a PDP.”

His supporting statement ended: “The removal of the PDP should simplify decision-making, reduce bureaucracy, improve transparency and democratic accountability, and reduce the workload of Democratic Services.”

At the July meeting, members agreed the notice of motion would be referred to the council’s constitutional review committee for further consideration.