Record number of people flagged to UK anti-extremism programme

UK Prevent, a programme that helps people showing signs of extremist sympathy, received 10,293 referrals in the year to September 2025 — up 39% and the most since records began 11 years ago. The surge intensified after the July 2024 Southport attack, whose perpetrator was referred three times and dismissed each time for lacking a clear ideology.