LEADING East Lancashire Muslims say they are ‘sick and tired’ of Prime Minister David Cameron’s pronouncements on home-grown Islamist extremism.

Mr Cameron made a speech yesterday saying the root causes of radicalisation must be tackled and that many people born and raised in the UK don’t ‘identify with Britain and feel little or no attachment to other people here’.

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Blackburn councillor Shaukut Hussain said every time this type of announcement was made the local Muslim community felt it had to defend itself.

He said: “I think he needs to be careful he does not want to isolate one community. We are British. Personally I am sick and tired of having to defend Muslims and my community. These extremists do not represent us. I do not feel I have to defend the actions of these idiots.

“Most of these guys have fallen away and what we need to do is to find a way of controlling the internet as that’s where the majority of brainwashing is taking place, not mosques, and I think he is wrong if he is trying to blame one community.”

Fellow councillor Salim Mulla said: “We are working our socks off to promote community integration and he can’t keep bashing the Muslim community like this. He needs to look at the grassroots level. Maybe his party is not that integrated but as far as I can see the community here is integrated.”

Mr Cameron told an audience in Birmingham that those tempted to travel to Syria and Iraq should be convinced not to buy into the supposed ‘glamour’ of fighting for extremist groups like Islamic State. He said: “You won’t be some valued member of a movement.

“You are cannon fodder for them. If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up. If you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you.”

Home Secretary Theresa May has announced a five-year plan, including legislation and ‘working positively with communities’.

Pendle Council leader Cllr Mohammed Iqbal said he did not understand what Mr Cameron was hoping to achieve. He said: “There’s a small minority who are not integrated.

“I do not think his speech is going to help.”

Blackburn community cohesion advisor Faz Patel said he welcomed the PM’s speech, but said that tackling Isis was a problem for everyone not just the Muslim community.

Mrs May said they were considering new powers, including banning orders for groups, disruption orders for individuals and taking action against premises used by extremists.