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What is the UK's Prevent programme and why is it being reviewed?

UK PM Keir Starmer has appointed David Anderson to investigate Prevent - but why was it introduced? And what do its critics say?
In 2015, the UK government introduced the Prevent Duty, which requires public sector workers to refer anyone they suspected of dangerous beliefs and behaviours (AFP/File)

The UK's controversial Prevent programme is again in the headlines after the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana, who pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls in the English town of Southport last year.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday said he had ordered a review into the failure of state institutions to prevent the attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.

Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was first referred to Prevent in 2019 when he was 13 years old, and on two further occasions in 2021.

Starmer also announced the appointment of David Anderson, a former independent reviewer of counter-terrorism legislation, to the newly created role of independent Prevent commissioner.

Speaking in Parliament, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced further reforms to Prevent - and suggested that the number of referrals for Islamist extremism is currently too low.

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What is Prevent?

Prevent is a programme within the British government's counter-terrorism strategy, along with three other ‘P’s: Pursue, Protect and Prepare. It aims to “safeguard and support those vulnerable to radicalisation, to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism”.

It was publicly launched in the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings and initially targeted Muslim communities, prompting complaints of discrimination and concern that the programme was being used to collect intelligence.

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Since its inception, more than 50,000 people have been referred to Prevent, according to civil society organisations who have called for the programme to be reviewed and reformed.

Almost 7,000 people in England and Wales were referred to Prevent in the year ending 31 March 2023, according to the latest Home Office statistics, with 40 percent of referrals coming from the education sector.

In recent years the total number of referrals related to "extreme right-wing concerns" has exceeded referrals for "Islamist concerns", although critics point out that referrals for the latter are still hugely disproportionate relative to the size of the UK's Muslim population.

In the latest data, far-right referrals totalled 1,314 (19 percent of total referrals) while Islamist referrals totalled 913 (13 percent). But the largest proportion of referrals, totalling 2,489 (36 total), was people referred to as presenting "no ideology or CT [counter-terrorism] risk".

Recent data has for the first time provided more detail in regard to the age of people referred to Prevent. The largest proportion of people referred in the latest statistics were aged 11-15 (2,729; 40 percent, while those aged between 16 and 17 were the the second largest proportion (892; 13 percent).  

How has Prevent developed?

In 2011, Prevent's remit was expanded to cover all forms of extremism, defined by the government as “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”.

In 2015, the government introduced the Prevent Duty, which requires workers in schools, hospitals, and other public sector settings, including doctors, teachers and nursery staff, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism”.

The guidance said that beliefs and behaviours which might require referral included questioning western foreign policy, feeling anxious or reserved in class, or feeling a desire for political or moral change. 

A key element of Prevent is Channel, a programme that offers mentoring and support to people assessed to be at risk of becoming terrorists. Prevent referrals of some young children have proved contentious: more than 250 children aged under 15 were the subjects of Channel interventions in the latest statistics.

What criticism is there of Prevent?

Opponents, such as Yasmine Ahmed of Human Rights Watch, say that Prevent has had a “chilling effect” on free speech in classrooms and universities, and that it has turned public sector workers into informers who are expected to monitor pupils and patients for “signs of radicalisation”.

Amnesty International last year called for the Prevent Duty to be abolished, and said that Prevent was having a “racist and discriminatory impact”.

In January 2025, Rights and Security International said Prevent was being used by police to collect and share vast amounts of data, with children and young people particularly affected.

Despite Prevent's expanded remit to focus on all types of extremism, Muslims continued to make up a disproportionate number of referrals to the programme.

A critical report publlished in 2022, The People's Review of Prevent, found that more than 70 percent of Muslims in England and Wales lived in "Prevent Priority Areas", compared with just 30 percent of the overall population.

Some opponents of the strategy, including the British Medical Association (the UK body for medical professionals), teachers and university lecturers, have also said it may be counterproductive.

"Prevent is having the opposite of its intended effect: by dividing, stigmatising and alienating segments of the population, Prevent could end up promoting extremism, rather than countering it," Maina Kiai, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly, said in a 2017 report.

In August 2024, a United Nations report called for the suspension of Prevent and advocated reparations for people abused under the programme.

Advocates argue that it is a form of safeguarding that has been effective in identifying and helping troubled individuals. They point to a growing number of far-right referrals as evidence that it is not discriminatory against Muslims.

How have governments reacted to criticism?

In January 2019 the then-Conservative government bowed to pressure and announced that it would commission an independent review of Prevent. This was supposed to be completed by August 2020.

But it was forced to drop its first appointed reviewer, Lord Carlile, over his past advocacy for the programme, and conceded that the review would be delayed.

In January 2021 it named William Shawcross as reviewer. Shawcross's appointment was also contentious and prompted many organisations to boycott the review.

Further delays followed. Shawcross's review, calling for a renewed focus within Prevent on "the Islamist threat", was finally published in February 2023 – and immediately denounced by critics. 

Shawcross’s conclusions and recommendations were nonetheless enthusiastically welcomed and picked up by then-home secretary Suella Braverman.

What is happening now?

The current Labour government has faced calls to overhaul Prevent and reject Shawcross’s conclusions since returning to power in July.

In December, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that the government would appoint a new commissioner – confirmed this week as Lord Anderson - to review Prevent’s “effectiveness”.

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In speeches on Tuesday, Cooper and Prime Minister Keir Starmer both said that Anderson would initially review failings in the Rudakubana case, and suggested the focus of Prevent should be extended to those interested in violence but without any clear ideology.

Starmer said the predominant threat to the UK had previously come from “highly organised groups like al-Qaeda”.

But he said the country now faced a “new and dangerous threat” from “loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety”.

Starmer said that terrorism laws would be changed if necessary to recognise the new threat.

In a speech to Parliament, Cooper also suggested that further reforms to Prevent could be expected

Cooper said: “The Prevent programme is vital to our national security and its officers work with huge dedication to keep us safe, but we need it to be effective.”

She said she had ordered her department to review the thresholds for Prevent referrals, and said that referrals for Islamist extremism have previously been "too low".

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