
The number of people flagged up to the authorities for right-wing extremism has surged to a record high, new figures reveal.
There was a 36% increase in the number of referrals to the Government’s Prevent programme over concerns about right wing extremism. It jumped from fewer than 1,000 in 2016/17 to 1,312 in 2017/18.
The Home Office figures also revealed a sharp rise in the number of children and teenagers being referred to the programme, up by a fifth to 2,009 including 297 girls.
More than half of those reported for possible deradicalisation interventions in 2017/18 were 20 or under.
The rise in right-wing extremism accounted for an overall 20% increase in referrals to Prevent, from 6,093 to 7,318 in 2017/18.
While Islamist concerns accounted for a larger proportion of referrals, the number in the category fell by 14% year-on-year.