ISIS is being beaten back and their numbers are now few and scattered, but proposals to offer jihadists returning home taxpayer-funded council housing are falling under fire. Those who oppose the proposals are calling them a "fundamental error" and compare the housing to bribes to potential terrorists. The Home Office is working to find a way to reintegrate extremists that would even send them to the top of council house waiting lists ahead of other people.
The schemes being considered would assess extremists formerly investigated as suspects by security service and determine how much danger they pose. They would be focused on finding a way to reintegrate them into society. Those like Andrew Bridgen discredit the idea, "This sounds like a reward for being on a list of potential terrorists. You can't buy people's loyalty to this country." There are over 20,000 extremists who have been investigated by MI5 and they will be targeted by this new proposal called Operation Constrain. These schemes could also apply to Britons returning home from fighting with the Islamic State in Syria. Col Richard Kemp, a former Government counter terrorism adviser, called the move "obscene" and said "I think it’s a very much mistaken policy.
When you look at the profile of many of the people who have been involved in terrorist attacks in the UK, or traveled overseas, they do not come from deprived backgrounds. If someone is inclined to be an extremist, you are not going to bribe them into not being a terrorist. It’s not going to change them." The dilema will need some careful debate as the risk of having 20,000 extremists who may have even fought with ISIS living next door isn't very appealing.
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