A review of Britain's counter-terrorism programme, Prevent, concluded that the program should focus its efforts more on what it described as "the threat posed by Islamic militancy".

The Prevent program is a key component of the British security apparatus that was added after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, with the aim of stopping extremism and preventing the continuation of violent acts.

However, since its inception, this program has been dogged by allegations that it is a spying program on the Muslim population.

William Shawcross, who was appointed as an independent reviewer to Prevent in January 2021, said the program was not doing enough to target what he called "non-violent Islamic extremism".

Shawcross added in his report that "tackling extremist ideology must not be limited to banned organizations, but must also include homegrown extremists who operate in a framework less than terrorism and can create an environment conducive to terrorism," he said.

He said that there is a "double standard", in which the definition of "Islamic ideology is too narrow", while the approach to the far right is too broad, according to his claims.


Between Islam and the far right

"It is true that Prevent is deeply concerned about the growing threat from the far right. But the facts clearly show that the most deadly threat in the past 20 years has come from Islamists, and this threat continues," the report added.

Civil rights groups, including Amnesty International, have criticized the decision to appoint Shawcross over previous statements he made about Islam, and his own strategic reviews as flawed.

The latest figures showed at the end of March 2022 that 6,406 people had been referred to Prevent, 20% of them for concerns related to the extreme right, and 16% for concerns related to what he described as "Islamic extremism".


The government welcomes

The government said it would work on all of Shawcross's 34 recommendations.

For her part, UK Home Secretary Soella Braverman welcomed "this more proportionate approach" and said she would "ensure Prevent now focuses on the main threat of Islamist terrorism".

Shawcross and Braverman highlighted that in the 4 years since the review was authorized, there have been 6 attacks, all of which were Islamist in nature, according to their allegations.

Last November, Ken McCallum, head of Britain's MI5 intelligence service, said "Islamist militants" remained a major concern, but warned of a growing number of right-wing extremists seeking firearms.