Sir William Shawcross’ Independent Review of Prevent was a landmark in counter-extremism work. Published by the Home Office in February 2023 — after considerable delay — it examined in forensic detail both the failings of the Prevent programme and specific threats posed by a number of extremist groups. In short, it found that too much focus was being placed on the far-right, to the detriment of the necessary focus on Islamist groupings. But a year on and there has been next to no progress in implementing the review’s recommendations and following through on its findings, leading Sir William to express his concern that the risk of a terrorist attack has actually increased since its publication. Months before October 7, for example, the report stressed the need to tackle support networks for Hamas. The prescience of that can be seen every week as hundreds of thousands of people join what have been accurately labelled hate marches.

The government says it has made “significant progress” in implementing the report’s 34 recommendations — a phrase straight out of Yes, Minister, since in reality it has done next to nothing. There are still no plans for vital legislation to tackle non-violent extremism, to redefine Prevent to target people deemed at risk of supporting terrorism as well as likely to commit terrorist acts, or to extend it to the UK Border Force. Security Minister Tom Tugendhat clearly understands the issues and is fully supportive of Sir William’s review — which leads to the conclusion that he is himself being hamstrung in implementing it. Wherever the problem lies, the stakes are far too high for further delays.