Prevent Watch had intended to respond to the government’s newly announced social cohesion action plan, Protecting What Matters – however, having reviewed the document, we find it lacks any substantive action.
Many of the proposals referenced stem from the recommendations already set out in 2023 by the Shawcross Review of Prevent, commissioned under the previous Conservative government.
Indeed, the action plan reads as though two decades of Conservative government-commissioned reviews on extremism and social cohesion have simply been fed into ChatGPT, to produce what ChatGPT produces best: a lengthy but ultimately hollow document assembled from familiar policy language, without the benefit of meaningful human oversight.
This is notable given that the current government has repeatedly criticised its predecessors for the state of Prevent and counter-extremism policy and specifically raised concerns about the Shawcross review.
It is surprising given that, soon after taking office, the Labour government appointed David Anderson to review Prevent, a report that was published in 2025, “Lessons for Prevent” yet this action plan has not engaged with that work.
It has also been published ahead of the Fulford inquiry, which is expected to make recommendations about Prevent following the admission that Axel Rudakubana had been referred three times prior to the deadly attack in Southport.
The People’s Review of Prevent, and our detailed response to the Shawcross Review, have already examined many of the issues repackaged in this new action plan.
Until the government publishes an action plan with actual action – one that meaningfully departs from already widely-critiqued approaches, many of which they themselves recently criticised – there is little here that warrants further response.
