November 6, 2025 - 12:00pm
“Extreme Right-wing” concerns accounted for twice as many Prevent referrals as Islamist extremism last year, according to new data from the Home Office. Of the 8,778 referrals made to the counter-terrorism scheme in the year ending 31 March 2025, 21% (1,798) of referrals were about Right-wing extremism, while 10% (870), concerned Islamism.
Overall referrals to Prevent were up 27% compared with the previous year’s total of 6,922, and constitute the highest number of referrals recorded in a single year since the Home Office began recording in April 2015.
Compared with the previous year, the proportion of referrals for “Extreme Right-Wing” concerns increased (up from 19%, or 1,314 of 6,921), while the proportion for “Islamist Extremism” decreased (down from 13%, or 913 of 6,921). As for cases which were referred for further consideration — where the individual’s threat of radicalisation is deemed to be more concerning — the majority were for “Extreme Right-Wing concerns” (612 out of 1464, accounting for 42%). Referrals for “Islamist Extremism, by contrast, constituted 15% of referrals (226).
The new figures come amid rising concerns about extremist political violence in the UK. In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in 2023 and the ensuing war, antisemitic hate crime rose at nearly nine times the rate of anti-Muslim offences, according to official figures. In the year to March 2024, there was a 113% increase on the previous year in antisemitic hate crimes. Last month, Syrian-born British national Jihad al-Shamie attacked a synagogue in Manchester’s Heaton Park area. The police shot al-Shamie and a Jewish worshipper dead, while another member of the congregation died from stab wounds inflicted by the attacker.
In July 2024, the Southport killings sparked a summer of civil unrest, with many protests targeting hotels housing asylum seekers. Last month, Home Office data showed that religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims rose by 19% in the year to March 2025, with a surge following the Southport murders.
The murder of three young girls at a dance class also prompted a renewed examination of Prevent. The killer, Axel Rudakubana, who was 17 years old when he carried out the attack, had previously been referred to Prevent, yet it failed to stop his further radicalisation and the subsequent murders.
While the new Prevent figures show that far-Right extremism is a more prominent concern than Islamist extremism, this is contradicted by prison statistics. According to figures from Counter Terror Policing in February this year, of the 254 people in prison for terrorism and terrorism-connected offences, around 60% were convicted as Islamist terrorists. Nearly a third (30%) are white-supremacists or neo-Nazis, grouped under the term “Extreme Right Wing Terrorists” (ERWT). The Counter Terror Policing report from February said: “This split reflects the reality of our investigations with MI5, which is roughly 75% Islamist terrorism, 25% ERWT, with a small number of left wing and single-issue ideologies.”
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