Islamist extremism still dominant terrorist threat in UK

Counter terrorism experts have warned that the recent terrorist attack on London Bridge highlights that the Islamist threat remains strong in the UK.

The attack, on 29 November, was the first fatal Islamist terror incident in two years after the terrorism focus centred on the fair right threat, highlighted after the Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand and the synagogue killings in Halle, Germany.

However, Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, at King’s College London, stressed that Islamist extremism remains the dominant form. A 33-year-old man was arrested in the Bristol suburb of Clifton on 9 December on suspicion of Islamist-related terrorism offences.

Winter said: “As far as I’m concerned, the threat didn’t go away – if anything, having been defeated in Baghouz [in Syria] earlier this year, the Islamic State’s appetite for terror attacks in the UK is greater now than it’s ever been.

“That said, there’s a gulf between appetite and capability, and, besides seemingly isolated incidents like [London Bridge], whether or not the group is able to sustainably and effectively push would-be attackers over the edge remains to be seen.”

While the far right is clearly on the rise – a global terrorism index recently pointed to a 300 per cent increase over the past five years – Milo Comerford, Islamist extremism lead at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said it was still a tiny fraction of the total worldwide threat.

Since 2017, law enforcement agencies in the UK said there have been 25 foiled plots, at least 16 of which were Islamist.