Labour will introduce 150 metre buffer zones around schools, Sir Keir Starmer said today, as he admitted he was "very concerned" about a school teacher who is in hiding after showing their class a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
It comes after Government adviser Dame Sara Khan said the teacher in Batley who was forced into hiding three years ago as a result of the abuse and threats felt suicidal because of the failure of local agencies and authorities to help him.
Speaking in Dudley to GB News, Starmer said: "I do feel very concerned about this individual. I do think that we need to take extremism very seriously. The strategy needs updating, I think it was last updated nine years ago.
"The report into what happened in Batley raised some very serious issues, particularly this idea that there shouldn't be those sorts of protests outside of our schools.
"Insofar as we can, this shouldn't become a party political issue. We've all got an interest in making sure we're tackling this this kind of extremism."
The Government has said that it will respond to Dame Sara's recommendations - including one to keep protests outside schools to more than 150 metres from the school gates - by the end of July.
Sir Keir Starmer said he was 'very concerned' by the Batley Grammar School case
GB NEWS/PA
Asked by GB News if a Labour government would implement the buffer zones, Starmer replied: "I do think that we should do that. I think we should be a buffer outside of our schools. School should not be a place for protest."
Khan warned this week that towns and cities across Britain are "struggling" to deal with extremism being whipped up by Islamists and the far Right.
Her report concluded that in some areas there is "no infrastructure in place" to tackle conspiracy theories, disinformation and harassment.
Khan told GB News this week that she has met with the teacher multiple times, described the impact of what happened to him as "devastating".
Batley Grammar School saw crowds of protesters gather outside
PA
Sir Keir Starmer said 'we need to take extremism very seriously'
GB NEWS
She added: "It's not just impacted him. It's impacted his family, his children. As I write in the report, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of what happened to him at the time of the incident, which is exactly three years ago today.
"He felt suicidal because not only because of the incident and the threats to him, but because of the failure of local agencies and authorities to help him, which compounded his sense of suicidal thoughts".
A recent poll, conducted for right of centre thinktank Policy Exchange, found that teachers across the UK are self-censoring their lessons over fears of causing religious offence.
