The Government’s flagship anti-extremism scheme has been accused of ‘putting the public in danger’ by underplaying the prime Islamist threat.
There were 860 referrals to the Prevent programme regarding concerns of Islamist extremism in the year to September, official figures published on Thursday showed.
They made up eight per cent of a record 10,282 referrals in total.
But in the same period there were just over 2,100 referrals over suspected ‘extreme Right-wing extremism’, making up 20 per cent of the total.
Crucially, far fewer Islamist cases were adopted by the Prevent programme under the ‘Channel’ scheme, which requires individuals of concern to engage with officials in an attempt to moderate their behaviour.
The new Home Office data showed ‘extreme Right-wing’ cases made up the largest group in Channel cases adopted during the year – 757, or 42 per cent of the 1,807 total.
It was three and a half times as many as the 212 Islamist cases adopted during the period, making up just 12 per cent.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Prevent is ignoring Islamist extremism, despite it remaining the deadliest terror threat our country faces.
Axel Rudakubana, who killed three girls at a dance class in Southport, was referred to Prevent three times but his case was closed over a lack of clear ideology
‘The failure to address this and intervene is putting the public in danger.
‘Prevent’s role is vital to national security, but it must be fit for purpose.
‘Labour do not have the backbone to confront this reality, and that is a national security failure.’
He added: ‘Islamist terror has caused 94 per cent of terror murders in the last 25 years and is 75 per cent of counter terror caseloads – but only accounts for eight per cent of Prevent. This is completely wrong.
‘Only the Conservatives will restore focus and make sure Britain never turns a blind eye to Islamist extremism.’
It comes more than two years after highly-critical official report accused Prevent of applying a ‘double standard’ regarding Islamism.
The review found the role of Islamist ideology had been ‘misinterpreted, misunderstood, or even overlooked’ by officials, who prioritised countering far-Right activity above tackling Islamism.
The official report by William Shawcross, former head of the Charity Commission, said: ‘At present, 80 per cent of the Counter Terrorism Police network’s live investigations are Islamist while 10 per cent are extreme Right-wing.
‘The fact that only 22 per cent of Prevent referrals for the year 2020-21 concerned Islamism suggests a loss of focus and failure to identify warning signs.’
Latest figures show the proportion of referrals for Islamist concerns have fallen yet further.
The Shawcross report found Prevent had scrutinised Right-wing material which ‘falls well short of the extremism threshold altogether’.
Officials had even flagged some of Britain’s most popular sitcoms and greatest works of literature as potential signs of far-Right extremism.
The Prevent scheme singled out comedies Yes, Prime Minister and The Thick Of It, war drama The Dam Busters, and the complete works of William Shakespeare as possible red flags.
It said the works of fiction were ‘key texts’ to extremists it categorised as ‘white nationalists/supremacists’.
‘These products not only covered non-violent far right extremism, but also examples of centre-right debate, populism, and controversial or distasteful forms of right-leaning commentary and intolerance,’ it went on.
The total number of Prevent referrals was the highest number in a 12-month period since records began in 2015, according to Home Office data.
The spike comes after officials noted a sustained significant increase in referrals in the wake of the Southport attack in July 2024.
Axel Rudakubana, who killed three girls at a dance class and tried to murder eight others as well as two adults, was referred to Prevent three times but his case was closed over a lack of clear ideology.
Where age was known, 11 to 15-year-olds made up the largest proportion of Prevent referrals (36 per cent), followed by 16 to 17 year-olds (13 per cent), the Home Office said.
Some 393 referrals, or four per cent of the total, were for children aged 10 or under.
Apart from individuals who were thought to pose an Islamist or extreme Right-wing concern, other groups included ‘fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks’ with 818 referrals, ‘incel’ or misogynistic extremism with 95 and Left-wing extremism with 32 cases.
More than half of referrals, 56 per cent, were for individuals with ‘no identified ideology’.
Dr Paul Stott, head of security and extremism at the think-tank Policy Exchange, said: ‘The issue of Prevent referrals is of long term concern. In particular, the number of referrals released today do not appear to tally with the significant Islamist threat that we have long faced in this country.
‘Indeed, we would reasonably expect Islamist referrals to outstrip all other types given what we have seen in this country since the 7/10 attacks.
‘The previous Home Secretary expressed concern that Islamist referrals to Prevent were too low.
‘It is to be hoped that the current Home Secretary will prioritise correcting this failure.’
Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of the anti-extremism think-tank Henry Jackson Society, said: ‘Successive Governments have ignored the recommendations of the Shawcross Review into Prevent, which pointed out that there was a bureaucratic bias towards pushing far right extremism cases over Islamist ones.
‘This is in stark contrast to MI5 warnings that 75 per cent of its counter-terrorism cases relate to Islamism.
‘This obvious disconnect remains reflected in the recent figures and demonstrates that the current Prevent criteria continue to downplay the most dangerous source of extremism in the UK today.’
