Yvette Cooper says Islamist referrals to Prevent are 'too low'. But critics disagree

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper recently stated that referrals of Islamic extremism to the controversial "Prevent" program were "too low," a comment that has drawn widespread criticism from human rights organizations. Data suggests that under the government's counter-extremism strategy, Muslim communities are more likely than other groups to be wrongly reported and questioned.

Cooper made the remarks during a parliamentary address on Tuesday, following revelations that Alex Rudakubana, who was convicted of killing three young girls in a knife attack in Southport last year, had been referred to the "Prevent" program three times during his school years. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also publicly criticized the "Prevent" program on Tuesday morning, stating that the failure of state institutions to prevent the Southport attack was "obvious" and promising a review of the "entire counter-extremism system."

Rudakubana was only 17 years old at the time of the attack. His first referral to "Prevent" was in 2019, when he was 13, for using school computers to search for material related to US school massacres. However, he was deemed not to be driven by terrorist ideology or pose a terrorist threat at that time. He was referred to "Prevent" twice more in 2021. Following one of those referrals, it was recommended that he receive support for mental health, special educational needs, and other services.

Cooper told Parliament that she has ordered her department to review the threshold for "Prevent" referrals, and stated that previous referrals for Islamic extremism were "too low." Middle East Eye has requested clarification from the Home Office as to whether Cooper was referring to the first stage of "Prevent" referrals, or to "Channel," the de-radicalization program for those assessed by "Prevent" as vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.

Jacob Smith of Rights and Security International criticized Cooper's statement, warning that "any lowering of the threshold for referrals of Islam will only exacerbate the discrimination currently faced by Muslim communities." He added: "Over the past decade, we have seen news reports of 'Prevent' failing to stop acts of violence. The strategy is ultimately not fit for purpose. Yet, the government's solution appears to be expansion, not fundamental reform."

Cooper's remarks echoed the findings of a controversial review of "Prevent" conducted by William Shawcross under the previous Conservative government. His review, published in 2023, was met with resistance and widespread rejection from critics of the program. Shawcross criticized "Prevent" for overemphasizing the far-right and called for the government to focus more on so-called Islamic extremism, suggesting that the threat had been underestimated due to fears of causing offense. The previous government appointed Robin Simcox to head the Commission for Countering Extremism, a nominally independent body that oversees "Prevent," and he has also adopted this view.

However, the view that Islamic extremism has not been given sufficient attention has been widely criticized by human rights organizations. In August 2024, a UN report strongly criticized "Prevent," stating "particular concern about the disproportionate interventions and referrals of members of the Muslim community, especially children." A major 2022 study of "Prevent," "The People's Review of Prevent," highlighted that the program relies on profiling to focus its work. In England and Wales, over 70% of Muslims live in "Prevent priority areas," compared to around 30% of the general population.

The most recently available data on "Prevent" referrals also challenges the Home Secretary's comments. In 2023-24, only 7% of those referred to "Prevent" ended up entering the government's de-radicalization program, "Channel." While 19% of "Prevent" referrals were related to right-wing extremism and 13% to Islamic extremism, right-wing cases were significantly more likely to enter "Channel" – 45%, compared to just 23% for Islamic cases. This suggests that most Muslim referrals are deemed to have been wrongly drawn into the program, while nearly half of far-right cases are taken into "Channel."

A 2023 study by Rights and Security International, based on data from 2015-2019, further found that "cases recorded as Asian and those recorded as 'Islam-related' were subjected to greater scrutiny than other ethnic groups and concerns." Cases involving "right-wing extremism" were more likely to be "steered away from the ‘Prevent’ and ‘Channel’ processes" at the initial stage, with either no further action or referrals to other services. In contrast, Asians "faced harsher sanctions" – they were less likely to be steered away from "Channel," despite being less likely to end up in "Channel."

Layla Aitlhadj, director of Prevent Watch, told Middle East Eye that Cooper's assertion that "referrals of 'Islamic extremism' are too low" is contradicted by "all the available evidence." "By pushing this narrative, political leaders appear to be using tragedy as a platform to amplify divisive rhetoric, rather than addressing the real and multifaceted failures that led to such attacks," she said.

The government announced on Tuesday the appointment of Lord David Anderson as the new independent "Prevent" Commissioner. Anderson, an independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has previously called for "clarity and restraint" in the application of "Prevent," and his appointment appears to undermine the role of Robin Simcox as counter-extremism commissioner. Cooper stated that Anderson's first priority would be to conduct a thorough review of the Rudakubana case to determine what changes need to be made to ensure serious cases involving "mixed or unclear ideologies" are not missed.

She revealed that a government review of Rudakubana's referrals to "Prevent" last year concluded that he should have been taken into the "Channel" de-radicalization program. The Home Secretary appears to be adopting many of the approaches advocated by Simcox, as well as recommendations made by Shawcross in his 2023 review. She said the government has implemented 33 of the 34 recommendations made by Shawcross. But she added that Shawcross's conclusion that the scope of "Prevent" should be narrowed to focus on terrorist cases, rather than broader non-violent extremism, would "potentially lead to fewer cases like this, where the ideology is less clear-cut, being included."

Ilyas Nagdee, Amnesty International UK’s racial justice director, said: “The ‘Prevent’ strategy is now over two decades old, and in that time it has been strongly criticised in multiple reports and inquiries by civil society organisations, parliamentary committees and several UN Special Rapporteurs, on issues relating to children’s rights, data and privacy concerns, and of course, racial discrimination. Successive governments have claimed that the only way for ‘Prevent’ to work is to expand its scope and the number of people responsible for implementing it, but it is clearer than ever that this approach has not worked.”