LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s counter-radicalisation scheme Prevent recorded a 27% rise in referrals last year, with about a third of those concerning individuals without an ideology, showing the scale of the challenge in countering attackers bent on mass killings.

Prevent has come under intense scrutiny since it emerged that teenager Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport in 2024, had previously been referred by his school, but concerns about his violent tendencies were not acted upon.

Government figures published on Wednesday showed 8,778 referrals were recorded in the year to March, and of those 34% did not have a ideology specified. Of the rest, 21% were related to extreme right-wing ideology and 10% were associated with Islamist ext

See Full Page