London Mayor Sadiq Khan to spend £875,000 more on fighting intolerance
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced he will spend a further £875,000 to tackle hate crime and intolerance in the capital.
This funding package builds on a history of similar investments in tackling extremism in London, with the Mayor now having invested £16 million in tackling hate crime in the city since 2016.
The funding will be made available to community organisations across London, including those which teach young people to critically access misinformation and stand up to hateful or extremist ideologies.
Youth in London are a central target of the Mayor’s campaign, with this funding also set to promote shared values to those young people who might be at risk of being radicalised by extremist online narratives.
Khan cited the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as background to his concerns over hate crime in the capital, stating that fear, hatred, and division is being sown on London’s streets and online.
Referrals to Prevent are at an all-time high, mosque attacks rose in the last year, and antisemitic incidents remain high, the Mayor said.
Khan’s anti-intolerance Shared Endeavour Fund has delivered over 130 projects that have worked with more than 200,000 Londoners to help combat hate crime, with a recent evaluation finding that the fund is effective in helping people to more critically engage with misinformation and challenge intolerant or hateful attitudes.
“Hate crime and extremism have no place in London and I’m committed to doing all I can to give young Londoners the skills and knowledge to spot all forms of intolerance and fight back against extremist and dangerous ideologies,” Khan said.
“We continue to see fear and hatred peddled online and on our streets, while the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is having ripple effects here in the capital.”
“I will not stand by while Londoners face abuse and hatred and that is why I will continue to fund grassroots organisations to counter this, supporting Londoners no matter their faith or background, building a better London for everyone,” he said.
