Dozens of youngsters had been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences final 12 months, chilling new figures reveal.
Home Office knowledge reveals 42 children aged 17 or youthful had been amongst 219 terror suspects arrested in 2023. The whole is up 31% from final 12 months, the primary year-on-year rise since 2017 and the best quantity since 2019.
Ministers have been accused of being “too weak and too slow” to deal with on-line radicalisation. Data launched by the Government reveals 61 individuals had been charged with terror offences, whereas 98 had been launched underneath investigation final 12 months.
An additional 12 confronted different motion, reminiscent of receiving a warning or recalled to jail, and 46 had been launched with out cost. The UK’s present terrorism risk degree is substantial, that means an assault is “highly likely”. Last month the Government’s impartial reviewer of terrorism laws mentioned the phobia risk “is now greater” following the October 7 assault on Israel.
According to the Home Office almost half of these arrested had been “of white appearance”, accounting for 46%. Those of “Asian ethnic appearance”, the figures present, account for 34%.
Nearly two thirds of these arrested thought-about themselves to be British or British twin nationality, the information reveals. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper mentioned: “These alarming figures present that extra kids than ever are being arrested for terror offences, they usually come after years of warnings concerning the rising danger of on-line radicalisation.
“The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism has made clear that this reflects a deeper problem about isolated individuals and ‘malign online spaces’, yet over many years the government’s response to new online threats has been too weak and too slow.
“We need urgent action to prevent our young people from being radicalised by poisonous ideologies that put our communities and country at risk.”
The newest figures confirmed there have been 244 prisoners behind bars for terrorism offences final 12 months, with 65% had been classed as holding Islamist-extremist views. An additional 26% held excessive right-wing ideologies – whereas 9% had been deemed to produce other motivations.
A complete of 56 terrorist prisoners had been free of jail within the 12 months to September, in line with the most recent accessible knowledge. It somes amid rising concern concerning the risk degree the UK faces.
A Home Office spokeswoman mentioned: “Our police and intelligence agencies continue their tireless work to keep us all safe from the evolving threat of terrorism. We are committed to giving them all the necessary tools to do this. That is why we have bolstered powers for those protecting us and introduced tougher sentences for the most dangerous terrorists.”
Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Matt Jukes mentioned in January: “It’s hard to remember a more unstable, dangerous and uncertain world. I have not seen the conditions collide in the way we have in the last months during my tenure,” he mentioned.
“The speed and the scale of the impact of global events are extraordinary, even in the context of our experience. If events happen around the world, they will invariably pull a thread in the UK, and particularly in its very diverse city communities, but what we have seen clearly is fear, anxiety, uncertainty, a whole range of very significant reactions amongst UK communities.”