Smith: Long-term challenge needs tackling

Home secretary Jacqui Smith has outlined plans to stop websites spreading radicalism in Britain.

In a speech at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence in London Ms Smith pledged to concentrate on the internet to prevent people being drawn towards radical groups.

"Stopping people becoming or supporting terrorists - that is the major long-term challenge that we face," she said in her first major speech on the issue.

"The relentless process of persuasion and propaganda, of assertion and insinuation that can lead ultimately to engagement or support for violent extremist… poses particular questions and requires a rounded and comprehensive response."

Technology in particular would be used to prevent "vulnerable people" being "groomed for violent terrorism", she added.