Prevent review published: Government accepts all recommendations

The report assessing Prevent, the Government’s anti-terror strategy, has finally been published on Wednesday after the findings of a draft version were leaked by the Guardian back in May last year.

Ordered by former home secretary Priti Patel in 2019, the review conducted by William Shawcross has found that Prevent “is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism” and “has a double standard when dealing with the Extreme Right-Wing and Islamism”.

“Prevent takes an expansive approach to the extreme right-wing, capturing a variety of influences that, at times, has been so broad it has included mildly controversial or provocative forms of mainstream, right-wing leaning commentary that have no meaningful connection to terrorism or radicalisation.

“However, with Islamism, Prevent tends to take a much narrower approach centred around proscribed organisations, ignoring the contribution of non-violent Islamist narratives and networks to terrorism.

“Prevent must ensure a consistent and evidence-based approach to setting its threshold and criteria, and ensure it does not overlook key non-violent radicalising influences.”.

Read the review here.

Home secretary Suella Braverman is expected to make a statement about the findings in the Commons later today. She said:

“I wholeheartedly accept all 34 recommendations and am committed to quickly delivering wholesale change to ensure we are taking every possible step to protect our country from the threat posed by terrorism.”

“Prevent will now ensure it focuses on the key threat of Islamist terrorism.

“As part of this more proportionate approach, we will also remain vigilant on emerging threats, including on the extreme right.

“This independent review has identified areas where real reform is required. This includes a need for Prevent to better understand Islamist ideology, which underpins the predominant terrorist threat facing the UK."

Work to implement the recommendations of the review has already started, with the majority of recommendations are expected to be actioned within 12 months.

Counter Terrorism Policing’s National Prevent lead, Detective Chief Superintendent Maria Lovegrove, pointed out that only one of the recommendations relates directly to Counter Terrorism Policing’s delivery of the Prevent duty – examining the length of time it retains referral data. She said:

“Counter Terrorism Policing has long held the view that our delivery of the Prevent Duty is one of the most important things we do in our mission to keep the public safe.

“We are pleased that William Shawcross has recognised the vital work Prevent does, particularly how the Government, Counter Terrorism Policing and our many partner agencies are tackling the radicalisation of young people and reducing the risk of violent extremism.

“The terrorist threats we face now are very different to when Prevent began, and a strong collective approach is absolutely vital if we are to keep up with this changing landscape and its growing dimensions
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“We will now work alongside the Home Office to respond to the recommendations, and continue our contribution to the Government’s refresh of the CONTEST strategy.”

Read the Prevent review here.

William Shawcross was appointed Independent Reviewer of Prevent in January 2021. He was the Chair of the Charity Commission between 2012 and 2018 and became the Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism in March 2019.

Back in May last year, the Guardian reported on a leaked version of the review.

Prevent Watch, one of 500 organisations and individuals that boycotted Shawcross’s review because of controversial comments he has made previously about Islam, last week sent a formal letter to the Home Office, threatening to bring a legal action due to fears that the organisation is mentioned in the review.

The review has come under strong criticism from Amnesty International. Ilyas Nagdee, Amnesty International UK’s Racial Justice Director, said:

“This review is riddled with biased thinking, errors, and plain anti-Muslim prejudice - frankly, the review has no legitimacy.

“William Shawcross’ history of bigoted comments on Muslims and Islam should have precluded his involvement in this ill-starred review in the first place.

“There’s mounting evidence that Prevent has specifically targeted Muslim communities and activists fighting for social justice and a host of crucial international issues – including topics like the climate crisis and the oppression of Palestinians.

“There is growing evidence that Prevent is having disastrous consequences for many people; eroding freedom of expression, clamping down on activism, creating a compliant generation and impacting on individual rights enshrined in law.

“A proper independent review of Prevent should have looked at the host of human rights violations that the programme has led to - but these have largely been passed over in silence."