“Prevent” is one of four strands of the Government’s CONTEST counter-terrorism strategy, focused on trying to stop the emergence of the next generation of terrorists by working with Muslim groups to counter radicalisation. On 8 February, the Government published the report of the Independent Review of Prevent by William Shawcross, the key points of which are as follows:

The Statutory Prevent Duty “works well to ensure that public agencies consider radicalisation as a risk, facilitate engagement with partners, and that counter- radicalisation measures are implemented on the ground”, but Shawcross has found “several areas that require improvement. Above all, Prevent must return to its overarching objective: to stop individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism”.

Prevent’s first objective – to tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism – is not being sufficiently met. It is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism: Continue reading →