'You haven't said what you're going to do...' Sadiq Khan ROASTED over anti-terror strategy
SADIQ KHAN was left floundering during a grilling on his stance on counter-terrorism and the Government’s Prevent strategy.
James O'Brien hits out at Sadiq Khan over Prevent strategy
Taking questions from a live audience as part of an LBC event, the Mayor of London was quizzed on what he was doing to tackle terrorism.
His response, along with the response of Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Sophie Linden, received a cold reception from host James O’Brien, who quipped: “You haven't told us anything that you're actually going to do.”
The slap down comes after Mr Khan was asked: “As the Mayor of London, what are you going to do to counteract radicalisation and extremism? What's your view on the Government's Prevent policy, which is often seen as vilifying innocent Muslims?”
The Labour party politician responded by saying “these are unprecedented times” and that “we need to understand the facts”.
Sadiq Khan leaving flowers for the victims of the London Bridge attack
With respect, you haven't told us anything that you're actually going to do
He said: “Between the time and Lee Rigby was murdered [in 2013] and March of this year, because of the intelligence the community provides the police and the work that our police and security services do 13 separate terror attacks were thwarted between 2013 and 2016.
“Between March of this year and now there have been nine separate terror attacks, five have been thwarted, four haven’t and so we've got to recognise these are unprecedented times.”
He then said we had to make sure young people were “resilient” to those who wish to “brainwash” them before saying Prevent had not been “well-received by many communities”.
Ms Linden said they were “learning lessons” from Prevent and spoke about the importance of “protecting our your people”.
Sadiq Khan pays tribute to victims in Finsbury Park after attack
But the responses did not satisfy O’Brien, who fired: “With respect, you haven't told us anything that you're actually going to do – we can all agree it's a noble aim.”
Mr Khan then attempted to respond once more and said his team would “work with communities”.
“We're working closely with the Government on the safeguarding strategy… the police and crime plan sets out the work we're going to do,” he said.
“[I’m] making sure my Deputy Mayor for Integration Matthew Ryder works with communities, the Government’s announced and we support a new commission dealing with counter terrorism – we're going to be working closely with them.”