Yvette Cooper is right about the need to tackle extremism – but will the government actually do it?

When this month’s riots broke, the government’s correct initial response was to regard them as a law and order issue. As Ms Cooper said: “For too long governments have failed to address the rise in extremism, both online and on our streets, and we’ve seen the number of young people radicalised online grow.” It is very worrying that 72 of the people charged following the riots are under 18. At present, ministers seem minded to allow the long-awaited Online Safety Act to take effect and monitor its workings rather than launch another review – for example, into whether to revive the abandoned plan to ban “legal but harmful” content. In line with the script for ministers in the new government, Ms Cooper could not resist an attack on her Conservative predecessors, saying: “Action against extremism has been badly hollowed out in recent years, just when it should have been needed most.” She has a point. Kemi Badenoch, the shadow communities secretary and Tory leadership contender, claims the 2010 Equality Act “has fed a lot of the discontent within communities, whether they’re complaining about two-tier policing or about the equality law being misapplied.