Police are struggling to cope with a surge in potentially violent teenagers being referred to Britain’s counterterrorism programme Prevent as cases reach a record high in the wake of the Southport attack.
A total of 8,778 individuals were flagged to the government’s anti-extremism scheme in the year to March 2025, Home Office figures show. This is up 27 per cent on the previous year and is the highest number since the current data series began in April 2015.
