UK Prevent referrals hit record high, surging 39% after Southport

UK Prevent, the counter-radicalisation scheme that steers individuals showing extremist sympathies toward support, logged 10,293 referrals in the year to September 2025 — up 39% and the most since records began 11 years ago. The jump intensified after the July 2024 Southport attack, whose perpetrator was referred three times and closed each time for lacking a clear ideology.