How big a threat is white extremism?

Almost one-third of the people monitored under the Channel programme in 2016/17 – part of the UK government's terror prevention scheme – believe in extreme right-wing ideologies and are vulnerable to radicalisation, according to The Independent citing unpublished Home Office figures.

The figure rose from 25 per cent in 2015/16.

The statistics were revealed after a van attack near London's Finsbury Park mosque in the early hours of Monday morning that left one man dead and 10 others wounded. The attack comes a year after MP Jo Cox was murdered by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair, and in the wake of a dramatic rise in the number of hate crimes reported against black and minority ethnic groups and religions.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Concern is growing over the rise of white and far-right extremists although the perpetrator in Monday's early morning attack, Darren Osborne, 47, was "was not known to the security services", according to The Guardian.

"While all the rhetoric from the Conservative government has been about Islamic fundamentalism, it has largely ignored the rising threat from white extremists who are every bit as dangerous and depraved as any other terrorist", said former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, according to the Independent.

Ben Wallace, the UK security minister, says he is "aware of a rise in the far-right", while Labour MP Rushanara Ali told SKY TV on Monday that it was time for the UK to step up its efforts to tackle extremism, not only in the form of religious extremists but in the form of far right extremists.

The jump in the number of far-right cases being dealt with by Prevent comes after a record number of white people were arrested last year on suspicion of terrorism, according to the Independent.

Official statistics found that 91 out of a total 260 people held on suspicion of terrorism offences were white – a rise of 20 from 2015 and the highest number since 2003, said the paper.

White suspects made up 35 per cent – or one in three – of all terror related arrests in 2016, compared with 25 per cent in 2015. Home Office figures also show that 41 per cent of people stopped and searched under anti-terror legislation between 2009 and 2016 were white.