UK's Prevent counter-terrorism strategy 'no longer keeping the country safe'

The UK's Prevent counter-terrorism strategy "is nary longer keeping the state safe" and needs a "radical overhaul", an autarkic committee has found.

It said 90% of radical referred to the strategy are turned distant due to the fact that they person nary evident ideology, adjacent though they tin spell connected to perpetrate convulsive crimes.

In a wide-ranging report, the committee besides recommended narrowing the explanation of what constitutes coercion to supply greater clarity.

And it called for decisions by authorities to proscribe organisations to beryllium reviewed each 5 years to guarantee proportionality. That proposal comes arsenic the Home Office faces a ineligible situation implicit its determination to prohibition the activistic radical Palestine Action.

'Not acceptable for purpose'

Full details of the commission's findings - based connected a three-year reappraisal into the UK's counter-terrorism measures - volition beryllium unveiled astatine the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) deliberation vessel successful London today.

The starkest conclusions are astir Prevent.

"The grounds we had shows that the contiguous attack to Prevent is not acceptable for purpose," said Sir Declan Morgan, a erstwhile main justness of Northern Ireland who chaired the commission.

Underlining the nonaccomplishment of the scheme, Axel Rudakubana - the Southport murderer who stabbed 3 girls to death and attacked 10 different radical astatine a Taylor Swift-themed creation people successful July past twelvemonth - had been referred to Prevent 3 times.

But nary grounds had been recovered of a fixed ideology, truthful his lawsuit was closed successful 2021. The teen committed the atrocity 3 years later.

"The Independent Commission connected Counter-Terrorism says that Britain's counter-terrorism strategy is nary longer keeping the state safe," according to an enforcement summary of the report.

"It calls for a extremist overhaul of Prevent to marque it portion of a broader inaugural dealing with unit and nary longer based connected a flawed radicalisation model."

A changed panic threat

The committee recovered determination is nary grounds that radicalisation is simply a predictor of whether a idiosyncratic volition go a terrorist.

It said violent threats successful the UK person morphed from plots by groups specified arsenic al Qaeda oregon Islamic State to "self-initiated" individuals with "complex, mixed, unclear oregon unstable ideologies".

As a result, determination has been a surge successful referrals to the counter-terrorism scheme.

"This risks overwhelming Prevent and missing individuals being drawn into terrorism," the study warned.

It said much than 58,000 radical person been referred to Prevent since 2015, but much than 90% had nary counter-terrorism concerns.

The different 10% showed nary grounds of transgression activity.

Read more:
Highest-ever fig of referrals to Prevent
Why is anti-terrorism programme controversial?

The committee besides said the bulk of referrals are children and young people, adjacent though they lone comprise 21% of the population.

"Prevent needs a large overhaul and integration into a wider strategy to which each those susceptible of being drawn into unit tin beryllium referred," it said.

The committee described this arsenic a "single entree point" that would beryllium the archetypal larboard of telephone for concerns astir the susceptibility of individuals to being drawn into violence.

Those astatine hazard of engagement successful violent unit would past beryllium passed to Prevent, portion others would beryllium dealt with by antithetic agencies.

On tightening the explanation of terrorism, the committee recommended what it called a much focused statutory definition.

"Terrorism should beryllium defined narrowly arsenic acts intended to coerce, compel, oregon subvert authorities oregon nationalist institutions, and the threshold for spot harm should use lone to behaviour causing superior hazard to life, nationalist security, oregon nationalist safety, oregon involving arson, explosives, oregon firearms methods inherently susceptible of causing unpredictable harm," it said.

Sir Declan said: "Our narrower explanation provides greater clarity portion ensuring the authorities tin tackle coercion effectively."