Prevent counter-terror failures are leaving the public at risk, reviewer warns

Sir William Shawcross said ministers had not implemented some of his key recommendations for the government’s anti-radicalisation programme Prevent

Sir William Shawcross has warned that the public is at risk (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)

The public has been left at risk after the government ignored key recommendations from a counter-terror review, the report’s author has warned.

Sir William Shawcross said ministers had not implemented some of his key recommendations for the government’s anti-radicalisation programme Prevent, while warning of an increased risk in the UK due to the war in Gaza.

He said the government should pay much more attention to the Hamas support network in the UK, especially after the events of 7 October.

His comments come after ministers marked a year since the publication of Sir William’s independent review by declaring that they had “brought Prevent back to its core mission”.

“The whole counter-terrorism system needs to continually evolve and adapt to the ever-changing threat from terrorism,” home secretary James Cleverly said in a progress report on Tuesday.

“Thanks to the work undertaken in response to [Sir William’s] review, we have a first-class Prevent programme that can play a central role in this effort.”

However Sir William insisted the “glass is still only half full”.

“The government has published a report saying that they have made some of those changes that I asked for, that I proposed - but not enough,” he told the BBC.

Sir William added ministers had “ignored” some of his key recommendations “and I think as a result the public is at risk”.

He said his concerns were heightened in light of Hamas’ attacks on Israel, adding: “There are unfortunately quite a lot of Hamas sympathisers and some operatives in this country.

“Prevent and the police should have been working much harder against those Hamas people in this country.

“The public is more at risk because of the events of October 7 and subsequently - and many, many people in this country are much more frightened than they have ever been before.”

Sir William found in his 2023 review that the scheme had repeatedly “failed” to identify attackers - and there was a “sense of lost purpose” in the scheme.

The government claims thirty of the 34 recommendations made by Sir William have already been delivered, while “progress has been made against each of the remaining recommendations”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have made significant progress to deliver a strengthened Prevent which places tackling terrorist ideologies at its core.

“William Shawcross’ Review was critical to ensuring Prevent is fit for purpose, which is why we accepted his recommendations in full. One year on, we have delivered 30 of the 34 recommendations he made, and we are making rapid progress on delivering the remaining four.

“The government agrees that extreme Islamist ideology presents the greatest threat to the UK, and has moved swiftly to update Prevent duty guidance and training to make that clear.”