The Prevent Counter-Terrorism Strategy After Southport

The counter-terrorism Prevent Strategy has recently undergone a significant government review by David Anderson KC following the 2024 murders in Southport. The attacker was referred three times to Prevent without being engaged because he was deemed not to be susceptible to terrorist ideologies. This replicated the experience of the 2021 murders in Plymouth, also conducted by an attacker proposed for referral to Prevent, but similarly deemed not to be a terrorism risk because of his lack of clear ideological motivation. The Anderson review, Lessons for Prevent, addresses the important issues raised by Southport around the width of the Prevent Strategy, the nature of the threats it engages with and its relationship to and responsibility for other forms of non-ideological mass violence. The review’s recommendations reassess Prevent’s remit and suggest a reorganisation of Prevent into a broader safeguarding and violence prevention scheme. It significantly contradicts the thrust of the earlier, controversial 2023 Shawcross Independent Review of Prevent, which mandated the need for a clear and consistent ideological element to be present in all Prevent cases.