LONDON: The number of people referred to Britain’s counterterrorism program over concerns about right-wing extremism surged by nearly 40 per cent in the space of a year.
Of a total of 8,778 people flagged to the Prevent scheme in the year to March 2025, nearly 1,800 related to violent, far-right ideology, Home Office figures show. That compares with 1,314 in the previous 12 months.
The number of referrals for far-right extremism was more than double the number for cases of Islamist extremism, which fell by 13 percent to 870 in the same period.
The shift comes amid an overall sharp increase in the number of cases referred to Prevent, and a big jump in the number of referrals labeled as “no identified ideology.” The 27 percent rise in referrals to the program has been linked to the July 2024 attack on a children’s dance class in northern England in which three girls were killed, and the subsequent trial.
Prevent faced criticism in a review for prematurely closing its case on the attacker, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who had been referred to the scheme three times between 2019 and 2021. The review said too much emphasis was placed on the observation that he did not have a distinct ideology.
The latest figures reveal that more than half of the referrals to Prevent involved individuals judged to have no identified ideology, 21 percent were due to concerns about extreme right-wing views, 10 percent related to Islamist ideology, and 5 percent were the result of concerns about “fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks” where no other ideology had been identified.
Of the individuals referred to the scheme, 89 percent were male, 65 percent white, 19 percent Asian, and 8 percent black.
The program has faced extensive criticism from human-rights groups for disproportionately targeting the Muslim community. Amnesty International said the latest figures showed Prevent was failing to tackle rising extremism.
“It is an ineffective, discriminatory program which is not compliant with international human rights law,” said Alba Kapoor, Amnesty’s racial justice lead.
Prevent was established in 2003 and expanded after the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks on London’s transport system. Schools, police, local authorities and members of the public can refer to the scheme people they fear might be susceptible to radicalization. After an initial assessment, cases can be passed a “Channel” panel that determines the severity of the risk and what action should be taken.
The latest figures show 1,727 individuals were discussed by one of these panels in the year to March and 1,472 were adopted for further support.
