Committee publication · Report · 1 April 2026 · HC 903
7th Report – Combatting new forms of extremism
From: Home Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Combatting New Forms of Extremism
Government response deadline: 1 June 2026
Summary
The Home Affairs Committee's seventh report examines rapidly evolving extremism trends in the UK, focusing on youth radicalisation, online spaces, neurodiverse individuals, and hybrid ideologies. The committee concludes the government's counter-terrorism approach, particularly Prevent, has not kept pace with these changes and is overwhelmed with non-ideological cases better suited to health and education interventions rather than counter-terrorism.
Key findings
- Extremism is characterised by increasing youth involvement (under 18s), hybrid ideological belief systems blending contradictory narratives, and central role of online platforms, social media, algorithms and generative AI in spreading harmful content.
- Disproportionate over-representation of neurodiverse individuals (particularly autistic spectrum disorder) and those with mental health conditions in Prevent referrals, with poor understanding of links to vulnerability.
- Prevent referrals reached record 8,778 in year ending March 2025, with majority specifying 'no ideology identified' or 'no ideology—other susceptibility'; only 20% discussed at Channel panels and 17% adopted as Channel cases.
- Antisemitism, misogyny, and conspiracy theories act as gateways to extremism, with Russia and Iran using disinformation to target young people and blur lines between state threats and non-ideological violent extremism.
- Significant gaps in UK research and evidence base on online extremism pathways, effectiveness of interventions, and how radicalisation occurs, limiting evidence-based policy development.
Recommendations
- Embed Prevent within wider safeguarding system and introduce triage structure ('big front door') above Prevent to direct cases to appropriate health, education, or community-based interventions rather than forcing all through counter-terrorism lens.
- Establish coherent, long-term research and evidence-gathering programme on new forms of extremism, particularly online radicalisation pathways, to address empirical data gaps constraining policy.
- Strengthen digital and media literacy in national curriculum to equip young people to critically analyse online material, recognise manipulative content, understand algorithms, and identify AI-generated content.
- Implement whole-of-society approach requiring cross-government working between Home Office and relevant departments (Education, Health, Science and Innovation, Local Government) to disrupt extremist influence rather than treating solely as counter-terrorism issue.
- Ensure successful implementation of government's social cohesion strategy with coordinated departmental action addressing drivers of extremism including geopolitical events, mis/disinformation, social exclusion, and grievance-based narratives.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Dame Karen Bradley (Chair, Home Affairs Committee), Home Office, National Crime Agency, MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), Lord Anderson of Ipswich (Interim Independent Prevent Commissioner), Dame Sara Khan (former Counter Extremism Commissioner), Commissioner for Countering Extremism (position vacant since July 2025)
Notable line
“The government's current approach to countering extremism has not kept pace with these changes.”
Key Quotes
“Prevent is becoming saturated with non-ideological cases, many of which would be better supported through health, education or community-based interventions rather than through a counter-terrorism lens.”
“… trends in extremism include increasing threats such as well-documented increases in hate crime against both Muslim and Jewish communities, and emerging threats such as the "prevalence of individuals fascinated by mass violence".”
“… in every, or almost every, case of terrorism in this country over the past five years, the internet has played a fundamental role—not an incidental role; it has been fundamental. Yet our understanding of that journey, what sites people have been on and what content they have consumed, is extremely poor.”
“Britian is "so much in the dark" about what is happening, where it is happening (both online and in communities), and how to effectively counter new forms of extremism.”
“A triage system would create a single point of entry, or 'big front door' through which a broad range of concerns can be assessed before being offered a suitable package of support.”
“… antisemitic discourse operates "as a lingua franca" that transcends the British political left and right.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗