Conservatives warn Prevent is losing focus on Islamist extremism

New figures have revealed that only 10 per cent of Prevent's caseload relates to Islamist extremism, down from 13 per cent in the previous year. This is despite Islamist terrorists being responsible for 94 per cent of all terror-related murders in Britain since 1999 and around 88 per cent of injuries caused by terrorism over the same period. Last year, Islamists accounted for 80 per cent of the police's counter-terror caseload, 75 per cent of MI5's and 63 per cent of terrorists in custody. These figures point to a growing gap between the nature of the threat and the focus of the system designed to prevent it.

The Conservatives want to see the recommendations of the Shawcross Review fully implemented. Prevent's current framework for identifying and addressing ideological drivers is too narrow. We will be watching the Government's response to Lord Anderson's review closely.

The next Conservative Government will act, backed by our fully funded £800 million a year plan to restore law and order, delivered by the Conservatives £47 billion Savings Plan, we will:

• Recruit 10,000 new police officers as part of a major crackdown on violent and sexual crime.
• Introduce year-round hotspot policing across 2,000 high-crime neighbourhoods, delivering 8.3 million extra patrol hours each year and preventing around 35,000 offences.
• Require routine use of live facial recognition technology in crime hotspots in every police force area to identify people who are wanted in for criminal offences or for failing to attend court.
• Launch a statutory, judge-led grooming gangs inquiry with the power to hold officials properly accountable.
• Triple stop and search to get knives and weapons off the streets.
• Scrap Non-Crime Hate Incidents, saving over 60,000 police hours and focusing officers on real crime.
• Give the Home Secretary the power to set binding operational priorities across all police forces.

Taken together, these reforms mark a new era of accountability and action. The Conservatives will restore order, refocus every officer on fighting crime, and rebuild trust between the police and the public.

Prevent was created to stop people being drawn into terrorism, it cannot do so effectively unless it reflects the threat in hand.

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:

“Prevent's role is vital to national security, but it must be fit for purpose. The evidence shows that Islamist extremism remains the dominant threat, yet the system is increasingly losing focus on it.

“Labour don't have the backbone to confront this reality, and that is a national security failure. Only the Conservatives will restore focus, restore courage, and make sure Britain never turns a blind eye to extremism.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Only 10 per cent of referrals concerned ‘Islamist Extremism', down from 13 per cent in the previous year.‘Islamist Extremism' concerns accounted 870 out of 6,921, in the year ending 31 March 2025; compared with the previous year 913 out of 6,921, in the year ending 31 March 2024. (Home Office, Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme, April 2024 to March 2025, 6 November 2025, link).

• The 2023 Shawcross Review found that 94 per cent of murders committed by terrorists in the United Kingdom since 1999 were committed by Islamist terrorists. In Great Britain, Islamists are responsible for 94 per cent of all deaths caused by terrorism since 1999 and around 88 per cent of injuries caused by terrorism over the same period. (Policy Exchange, Extremely Confused The Government's new counter-extremism review revealed, p. 39, 27 January 2025, link).

• 61 per cent of persons in custody for terrorism and terrorism-connected offences in Great Britain are classified as ‘Islamist extremists' and 29 per cent ‘extreme right wing'. In the year ending March 2025, of the 257 persons in custody for terrorism and terrorism-connected offences in Great Britain, 61 per cent being classed as ‘Islamist extremists' and 29 per cent ‘extreme right wing' (Home Office, Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation: Arrests, outcomes, and stop and search, Great Britain, quarterly update to June 2025, 11 September 2025, link).

 Our plan will restore law and order in our country and keep the British public safe: 

• We will hire 10,000 extra police officers, backed by £800 million of funding. To combat Labour's cuts to policing, we would hire 10,000 extra police officers over three years as part of our plan to crack down on crime and support policing. This would cost £800 million per year once fully rolled out.  

• We will introduce proven intense hotspot patrolling in 2,000 areas which covers 25 per cent of all serious violent crime and robbery and should prevent 35,000 offences.We know that a disproportionate amount of crime is committed in a limited number of hotspots. We would therefore mandate routine year-round intensive hotspot patrolling of high-crime areas, including areas of high violent crime, street robbery, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. We will build on existing hotspot policing with a target of 2,000 hotspots across the country, but on a more intensive basis. This would require an extra 5,550 police officers (Home Office, Research and analysis, 27 March 2025, link).

• We will triple the use of stop and search, taking its usage back to levels in 2008. We would achieve this using the Home Secretary's new power to set operational priorities as set out above and changing PACE Code A 2.8A and College of Policing guidance to make clear that a single suspicion indicator is enough to merit a stop and search. This includes the smell of cannabis. We would mandate the more widespread use of section 60 suspicion-less stop and searches in high crime areas. This would mean amending section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to explicitly allow ‘without suspicion' searches to take place in the most intense violent crime ‘hotspots' at any time. These hotspots should be identified by the police and approved on an annual basis by a Magistrate (Home Office, Accredited Official Statistics, 14 March 2024, link). 

• We will require routine use of live facial recognition technology in crime hotspotsin every police force area to identify people who are wanted in for criminal offences or for failing to attend court – including removing the need for LFR to be conducted overtly. This has led to hundreds of arrests of people who would not otherwise be caught where is has been recently used – including men wanted for crimes as serious as rape.