Faith institutions should declare all funding, says Farage

Faith institutions should have to declare all sources of funding as part of efforts to counter radicalisation, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said.

Young Muslims were having "poison dripped into their ear" through "foreign-funded" mosques.

Prime Minister David Cameron said liberal values would prevail in what he called a "battle of ideas".

Muslim leaders have condemned the Paris attacks, saying there is "nothing Islamic" about the perpetrators.

French investigators believe that a Moroccan-origin Belgian jihadist masterminded Friday's attacks in Paris, which killed at least 129 people, including one British national.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud is thought to be in Syria now with the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.

In response to the attacks, the UK has announced a range of measures, including a review of airport security in destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, intensified security checks at UK borders, a review of responses to firearms attacks, more spending on drones and a refocusing of the aid budget.

'Fifth column'

Additional funding will also be made available to enable MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to recruit 1,900 extra operatives.

But Mr Farage said there was a deeper reality that could not be ignored, suggesting there was a "fifth column" of terror-sympathisers in the UK and Europe, and that some places of worship and educational institutions were a breeding ground for radicalisation.

Speaking to journalists in Hampshire, he said it was apparent a minority of young Muslims in the UK had "conflicted" loyalties.

"On the one hand, they want to get on in the world, get on with people and enjoy life," he said.

"On the other, they are having poison dripped in their ear. Some of that is coming through the internet and that is tough to tackle.

"But much of it is coming in through the mosques. And I am very struck that Saudi Arabia, who pose as a friend of ours in the war of terror, are frankly anything but.

"That is where the funding is coming from for mosques, for British universities. I would like all churches and all faith organisations from now on to be forced by law to declare publicly where their funds come from so we can stop money coming in to preach extremism."

'Victim morality'

In a speech in the City of London on Monday night, Mr Cameron said Islamist extremism was underpinned by a "diseased view of the world which has become an epidemic infecting minds from the mosques of Mogadishu to the bedrooms of Birmingham".

Such "poisonous ideology" had to be stamped out before it took root in people's minds, he said.

Countering it, he said, required greater social integration, shutting down institutions teaching intolerance and getting moderate voices to speak out and promote an alternative world view.

"It means tackling the violent and non-violent extremism in all its forms," he said.

"Because, unwittingly or not, those who promote extremist views, even if they are non-violent themselves, are providing succour to those who want others or want to get others to commit violence."

He added: "We cannot stand neutral in this battle of ideas. We have to back those who share our values with practical help, funding, campaigns, protection and political representation."

Haras Rafiq, from the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank, said the answer to young Muslims being "brainwashed" was to "build civil society coalitions, alliances to actually deconstruct the ideologies and the narratives, countering it and promoting our alternatives".

"It is really a problem for the whole of the community," he added. "Muslims, people like me, need to play more of a part as well and get over this victim morality."