Uk's Prevent Counter-terrorism Strategy 'no Longer Keeping The Country Safe' - Beritaja

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

It said 90% of group referred to the strategy are turned distant because they person nary evident ideology, moreover though they could spell connected to perpetrate convulsive crimes.

In a wide-ranging report, the committee besides recommended narrowing the meaning 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 complete its determination to prohibition the activistic group Palestine Action.

'Not fresh for purpose'

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

The starkest conclusions are about Prevent.

"The grounds we had shows that the coming attack to Prevent is not fresh 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 group 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 executive summary of the report.

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

A changed panic threat

The committee recovered location is nary grounds that radicalisation is simply a predictor of whether a personification will go a terrorist.

It said violent threats successful the UK person shape-shifted from land by groups specified arsenic al Qaeda aliases Islamic State to "self-initiated" individuals pinch "complex, mixed, unclear aliases unstable ideologies".

As a result, location 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 group person been referred to Prevent since 2015, but much than 90% had nary counter-terrorism concerns.

The different 10% showed nary grounds of criminal activity.

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

The committee besides said the mostly of referrals are children and young people, moreover though they only comprise 21% of the population.

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

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

Those astatine consequence of engagement successful violent unit would past beryllium passed to Prevent, while others would beryllium dealt pinch by different agencies.

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

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

Sir Declan said: "Our narrower meaning provides greater clarity while ensuring the authorities could tackle coercion effectively."