Prevent not as controversial among Muslims as believed

A new survey from the Crest Advisory think tank has claimed that the principles behind the government’s Prevent scheme may not be as controversial among British Muslims as thought.

The researchers argue that the study shows that the narrative the anti-extremism scheme is a ‘toxic brand’ is ‘fundamentally flawed’. It claims that Muslims in the UK are more likely to tip off the scheme when someone was being radicalised than the wider public. Almost 70 per cent of British Muslims surveyed said they would tip off the authorities about someone being radicalised, compared with 63 per cent of the wider public.

A Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson said the survey provided ‘valuable insight’ and showed most people supported the ‘concept that prevention is better than cure’. However, the organisation said Prevent still needed to be overhauled.

The survey showed that many of those questioned had not heard of Prevent before - amounting to 55 per cent of Muslims and 68 per cent of the general population. When offered ‘a neutral explanation’ of Prevent, 80 per cent of British Muslims and 85 per cent of the wider public offered broad support for it.

Jon Clements, report author, said: “Our findings appear to fly in the face of a number of narratives commonly applied to British Muslims by some politicians, campaign groups and commentators about extremism and efforts to counter it. British Muslims are, broadly speaking, no more 'in denial' about Islamist extremism and the threat it presents than the population as a whole. Equally it is evident that British Muslims appear to be just as willing to step up and report concerns about an individual at risk of being radicalised as everybody else."