More people may have self-radicalised online in pandemic

Damian Hinds has warned that the coronavirus pandemic may have ‘exacerbated’ the number of people self-radicalising online.

Speaking in the wake of the Liverpool bombing, Security Minister Hinds said that the security services had disrupted more than 30 late-stage plots in the last few years.

He went on to say that there was a shift towards attacks becoming more self-directed, from ‘directed attacks as part of a bigger organisation’ towards attacks which are more ‘self-directed’, wither by self-radicalised individuals or small groups.

Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds has said that the government should launch a judge-led inquiry into ‘lone wolf’ individuals to understand how better to prevent attacks.