The UK government’s efforts to combat extremism are failing and must be overhauled, the country’s Commission for Countering Extremism has said. After an 18-month-long evidence-gathering exercise across Britain, the country's independent adviser for extremism is recommending – among other measures – that government change its extremism definition and create a new task force to tackle radical groups under the auspices of the Home Office. "I am putting forward a clear description of hateful extremism – the inciting or amplifying of hate, the hateful targeting of individuals and making the moral case for violence," lead commissioner Sara Khan said after the release of the report. "If we are to be successful in reducing the extremist threat in our society, we need to focus our efforts on challenging hateful extremism," she said. The ‘Challenging Hateful Extremism’ report has outlined that communities are being torn apart by “hateful extremism” as a result of the current government strategy. The existing definition, the commission explains, has allowed radical groups like the "Islamist" organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir and far-right National Action to hide behind its broad outline. Because people are unable to draw the line between reasonable democratic debate and the radical or violent ideas peddled by extremist groups under the current definition, the report has shown they fail to call out extremism. At present, the report has found, extremists are able to use Britain’s tolerance and the premium it places on free speech for their own ends. The commission identified a number of instances where radical groups have stirred hatred against minorities. It points to recent anti-equality protests over teaching in Birmingham propagated by activists linked to Hizb ut-Tahrir. "Islamist groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir are using this and exploiting the tensions in Birmingham to promote their belief that Western liberalism is a threat to Islam," the report alleged. On October 2, <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/twitter-suspends-british-hate-protester-days-after-the-school-activist-sets-up-primary-education-firm-1.918195"><em>The National</em> revealed Twitter</a> had suspended the account of one of the lead campaigners behind "aggressive" school protests. It also called out far-right demonstrations in Sunderland for spreading a message of hate, as well as tweets from an extreme-right group praising the man who murdered MP Jo Cox as a “hero” and using the murder to promote more violence. “We need more people like him to butcher the race traitors,” the group tweeted at the time. The commission identified the need to recognise and respond more effectively to hate incidents when they come to light. Victims need to be better protected, counter extremists better supported and hateful extremists better challenged, it outlined. “This report by the Commission for Countering Extremism captures what many activists, campaigners and counter-extremism professionals have been saying for years,” Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, said in response to the report. "There is a cumulative personal, organisational and societal set of extremism impacts that toxifies local and regional communities and the values of the nation." he said. "Our society can often feel more divided than any of us would like, with a coming general election likely to raise the temperature yet further," Sunder Katwala, director of independent thinktank British Future, said." People can express opposing views strongly – but there should be no place for hatred in Britain," he said.