EXTREME right-wing ideology has overtaken Islamism as the biggest cause of referrals to the UK Government’s anti-radicalisation programme for the first time, figures have revealed. Far-right radicalisation was feared in about 25% (1229) of those put forward to the Prevent programme in the year from April 2020 to March 2021, the Home Office said on Thursday. That figure was higher than the number of Islamist radicalisation referrals, which was 22% (1064) during the same period. Prevent aims to safeguard people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Referrals to Prevent can then be put forward to a Channel Panel that decides if individuals would benefit from more support and its programme. The impact of coronavirus restrictions led to the first drop in referrals since records began in 2016. In total, 4915 were made, 22% lower than last year. Referrals for an individual with mixed, unstable or unclear ideologies made up for more than half of the total with 2522. (…) The report from the University College London Institute of Education found that a majority of teachers spoken to by the researchers said they have heard pupils express far-right extremist views in their classroom, as well as “extremist views about women” or Islamophobia. Almost all the teachers surveyed had encountered “hateful extremism” in the form of racist views in the classroom, according to the report.
thenational.scot: Far-right extremism biggest cause of referrals to UK anti-radicalisation scheme