Under the Prevent programme, local authority staff and other professionals such as doctors, teachers and social workers have a duty to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into a terrorism.
Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, today suggested research was needed about what was driving referrals and why they were ‘out of kilter’.
He told MailOnline: ‘Nobody can dispute these statistics as a matter of fact. Nor is it sensible to ignore extreme right wing ideology as a driver of violent extremism.
‘But we should also be asking about what is driving these referrals and why they are so out of kilter with the clear and present danger of Islamist extremism which in terms of lethality and potential dwarfs extreme right wing ones.’
