The Government is to invest £5m to build a network of grassroots organisations as part of its efforts to tackle extremism.

The funding is intended to help groups extend their reach by offering practical support such as social media training and help to set up websites.

Prime minister David Cameron announced the funding ahead of publishing the Government’s new counter-extremism strategy.

‘We need to systematically confront and challenge extremism and the ideologies that underpin it, exposing the lies and the destructive consequences it leaves in its wake,’ he said. ‘We have to stop it at the start – stop this seed of hatred even being planted in people’s minds and cut off the oxygen it needs to grow.’

He said efforts to create a network of organisations to ‘defeat extremism and build a more cohesive society’ lay at the heart of the fresh approach.

‘We will do everything we can to support them – through my new Community Engagement Forum and with practical support and funding to tackle these deep-rooted issues. The scale of the task is immense and that is why we need everyone to play their part.’

Under the strategy, those convicted of terrorism will also be banned from working with children and vulnerable people.