Interior Minister Soyla Braverman says terror risks are “increasing” as government begins counter-terrorism review | Politics news

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Home Secretary Soella Braverman was speaking in the wake of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy update, CONTEST. Islamic and right-wing extremism have been highlighted as the two main threats to the UK.

By Tim Baker, Political Correspondent

Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 12:02, UK

Home Secretary Soella Braverman said the threat of terrorism was “on the rise”.

The minister was speaking as the government published a review of its counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, which has been updated for the first time in five years.

Ms. Braverman said: “We now face a homegrown terrorist threat that is less predictable, difficult to detect and investigate; a persistent and evolving threat from Islamist terrorist groups abroad; and an operating environment where technology continues to present both opportunities and risks for our counter-terrorism efforts.

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So we believe that the threat of terrorism is escalating again.”

Braverman added, in a speech announcing the report, that the rise came from a “lower base,” and that the risk “is not as high as it was a few years ago.”

The CONTEST strategy has been around since 2003, and was last updated in 2018 after the five terrorist attacks in 2017.

Since then, there have been nine terrorist attacks, killing six and wounding 20 — and disrupting 39 more, according to the Home Office.

This year’s review highlighted how the “primary domestic terrorist threat” comes from “Islamic terrorism”.

It makes up “nearly 67% of attacks since 2018, about three-quarters of MI5 cases and 64% of those held for terrorism-related offences” as of March this year.

The next most serious threat is right-wing extremism. The Home Office believes this makes up roughly 22% of attacks since 2018, a quarter of MI5 cases and 28% of detainees held for terrorism-related offences.

When it comes to Islamic extremism, the review notes that there is a “diminishing” link between criminals and “explicit affiliation and consistent ideological alignment” with any one group.

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This is due to the “relative decline” of al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as ISIS.

The shrinking number of Islamist figures and the growing online world mean that there are more “cases and complaints from a wide variety of sources becoming influences and motives” for terrorists.

For right-wing extremists, there is less organization compared to Islamic terrorists, according to the new review.

Rather than formal groups with a leadership structure and plans for territorial grabs, far-right groups tend to consist of “informal online communities that facilitate international connections”.

Distributed structures and online organization have been highlighted several times in the CONTEST update.

He stated that the uptick in the number of investigations and arrests of minors by counter-terrorism police was mostly related to online behaviour.

But more than half of all under-18s convicted of terrorism in the past five years have been charged with non-violent crimes, such as gathering or sharing terrorist information.

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