Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove today published the government’s new definition as the “first in a series of measures to tackle extremism and protect our democracy”.

He connected the move to the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on 7 October, which he said had led to “extreme right-wing and Islamist extremists… seeking to separate Muslims from the rest of society and create division within Muslim communities”.

The new definition is as follows:

The official publication of the definition comes more than four months after The Observer reported that civil servants had expressed concern about a draft version being “too broad” and potentially including “legitimate organisations and individuals”.

The National reported fears from senior SNP and Green politicians that an overly broad definition could include peaceful campaigning for Scottish independence as an act of extremism.

The final text includes an explicit reference to “violence, hatred or intolerance”, but remains controversial.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty’s UK chief executive, said: “This dangerously sweeping approach to labelling groups and individuals ‘extremist’ is yet another smash-and-grab on our human rights by a government which has become a serial offender in this regard.

“This attempt to stigmatise legitimate, peaceful political activity is taking us further down the road toward authoritarianism.

“In any democracy worth the name, non-violent political activity should be protected and even celebrated as a sign that a country respects human rights and differing opinions.

“Rather than this wholly misguided attempt to bolster the failed Prevent programme – a disastrous scheme in which Islamophobic stereotypes play a major role in referrals – the government should recognise that real British values involve defending the rights of all political opponents to speak freely and openly.

“We found in our research last year that the current definition is already being used to refer legitimate political activity to Prevent. This expansion will lead to further misuse and discrimination.

“If criminality among certain groups or organisations is suspected, we already have a host of laws to deal with this. Today’s announcement is a dangerous gimmick and this whole enterprise should be abandoned.”