‘Concerning' rise in referrals to Prevent in Leeds

New figures show that Leeds has seen a spike in referrals to the anti-extremism scheme Prevent during the first few months of 2020.

Data uncovered by the Yorkshire Evening Post shows there was a 65 per cent increase in the number of referrals made during the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year. The rise is far higher than any other areas of the West Yorkshire region, with only Bradford and Kirklees also reporting increases, but at 16 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

In Leeds, nearly a third of the city's referrals were made by non-counter terrorism police, closely followed by schools.

The rise in referrals also contradicts a national trend which has seen Prevent referrals decrease during the coronavirus lockdown.

The surge in cases in Leeds between January and April has raised fears that the lockdown could have led to more people being exposed to extremist material online.

The figures were reported in Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust's annual safeguarding report. With a total of 28 referrals during the first quarter, compared to 17 in the same period last year, Leeds had the second highest total in West Yorkshire, just one less than Bradford's 29.

Steph Lawrence, director of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals at LCHT, said: “The information contained in this report is taken from the CTLP (counter-terrorism local profile) and is generated annually by the police. Leeds Community Healthcare, alongside all its citywide healthcare partners, has a shared response and approach to delivering the Prevent duty in a consistent and united manner and we continue to work together to deliver this.”

Leeds Imam Qari Asim, who is also a government adviser in his role as deputy chair of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, said he suspected there had been an increase in far right extremism during coronavirus and cited incidents in the city where people had pretended to be independent journalists to take pictures of mosques and ask if anyone had been going in during lockdown.

The safeguarding report also cited examples of far right extremism seen in Leeds during the first quarter of the year. These included propaganda found at Leeds train station in February and graffiti of a number of swastikas seen around the LS9 area in March.