Times columnist, James Forsyth (‘Islamism is a greater threat than the far right’, June 16) seriously misrepresents the government’s Prevent strategy and its relation to counter-terrorism.
He writes in anticipation of the publication of the much-delayed Shawcross Report, which makes his piece troubling.
James Forsyth believes that the number of far right referrals is disproportionate to the risk when compared with those who have committed terrorist offences.
This is factually incorrect; in 2021, out of 186 actual terrorism arrests, over 40% were related to suspected right-wing terrorism.
Despite the statistics of actual terror offences showing a problem of far-right in terms of actual suspected offences, Prevent still focuses on Muslims.
