SECURITY, prosperity and opportunity for all will be the themes of the forthcoming Queen’s Speech, No 10 has indicated, as David Cameron is set to reveal tough new laws to clamp down on extremists.

But Alistair Carmichael, the former Scottish Secretary, hit out at the Prime Minister’s expected move, claiming it would "villainise" whole swathes of Britain and saying: “Cameron is floundering in an attempt to save his legacy and it looks like Britain’s Muslim communities are the target.”

Mr Cameron is expected to announce new powers to ban organisations, gag individuals and close down premises used to "promote hatred" in measures to be included in an Extremism Bill in the UK Government’s programme for the next parliamentary session on May 18.

Downing Street refused to comment on the bill but it is believed that the legislation would extend vetting rules, so that employers would be told of known extremists to prevent them from working with children and other vulnerable groups or from carrying out roles in "sensitive areas".

There are plans to extend Ofcom's powers to suspend broadcasts deemed to include "unacceptable extremist material".

It is also suggested Home Secretary Theresa May will shortly launch an independent review of how Sharia courts operate in Britain.

The Conservative government’s programme was discussed at the weekly UK cabinet. The PM’s spokeswoman said she would not comment on the contents of the Queen’s Speech but added: “You can expect the next session to be getting on with the Government’s manifesto commitments, looking at how we provide security, prosperity and opportunity for people across the country during every stage of their life and thereby improving life chances.”

Mr Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat’s home affairs spokesman, pointed out how current counter-extremism measures such as Prevent had come under fire for alienating British Muslims.

He noted how the latest critic was Maina Kiai, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, who said the strategy was having the opposite of its intended effect by dividing, stigmatising and alienating segments of the population.

“Despite this,” said Mr Carmichael, “the Government continues to ignore the communities, who will be directly affected by these latest proposals and instead villainise entire swathes of the population.”

The Orkney and Shetland MP added: “The Government must sit down with community representatives and engage fully and properly with them before bringing forward any legislation.”

Meantime, the Home Office defended the work of the Research, Information and Communications Unit (Ricu), challenging the "warped ideology" of so-called Islamic State, also known as Daesh, which included activities carried out in secret away from "the media glare".

The Guardian revealed details of some of Ricu’s work to steer people away from radicalisation. One initiative, which portrays itself as a campaign providing advice on how to raise funds for Syrian refugees, has had face-to-face conversations with thousands of students at university freshers' fairs without any of them realising they were engaging with a government programme.

Also, the Help for Syria campaign was said to have distributed leaflets to 760,000 homes without the recipients realising they were a government communication.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are very proud of the support Ricu has provided to organisations working on the front line to challenge the warped ideology of groups such as Daesh and to protect communities.

"This work can involve sensitive issues, vulnerable communities and hard-to-reach audiences and it has been important to build relationships out of the media glare. We respect the bravery of individuals and organisations, who choose to speak out against violence and extremism and it is right that we support, empower and protect them,” she added.