In a guest post, Rebecca Riedel of Cardiff Law School looks at what the various manifestos say about tackling terrorism and extremism.

The Prevent Duty, placed on a statutory footing in 2015 by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, makes it the responsibility of “specified authorities” (the police, schools,  prisons and universities, for example) to have due regard to the need to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism. Although the statutory provision makes no explicit reference to religion, the Prevent Duty has become directly associated with religion: it is in place primarily to target Islamist terrorism.

The Prevent Duty is designed to prevent individuals from becoming “radicalised”: that is, to prevent them from embarking on the path towards becoming terrorists. The Duty is therefore an integral part of counter-extremism efforts in the UK. However, it would be an understatement to describe Prevent as divisive; it has been the subject of much academic debate and public discussion for years. Continue reading →