CONTEST is the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy, first developed by Sir David Omand and the Home Office in early 2003 as the immediate response to 9/11, and a revised version was made public in 2006. Further revisions were published on 24 March 2009, July 2011, June 2018, and July 2023. The aim of the strategy is "to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence.""CONTEST: The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism". Home Office. July 2011.
The UK government's definition of "Terrorism" is set out within the Terrorism Act 2000, and the Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) unit has been set up to implement CONTEST.
CONTEST is composed of the "four Ps" – Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare – which aim to reduce terrorism at all levels through: Preventing more people from being radicalised; Pursuing suspects operationally and legally; Protecting the public through security measures, and Preparing to manage the response to mitigate the impact of an inevitable attack. Prevent is the most prominent and controversial of these. It includes a duty ("the Prevent duty") for public bodies such as schools and universities to identify and refer those displaying signs of potential extremist or terrorist activity, and a programme ("Channel") to de-radicalise such individuals. It has been criticised by civil rights groups and British Muslims for stigmatising Muslim communities, as well as by conservative pundits for identifying right-wing extremists as potential terrorists.
Background and development
Revisions The August 2018 revision reportedly puts more focus on ways of prevention and how to best alert the public to terrorist threats. In an article written for The Observer, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that the strategy is "recognised by our allies to be world-leading in its wide-ranging nature, [and] leaves us better prepared and strengthened in our ability to ensure all peace-loving people of this country can live normally, with confidence and free from fear."
In March 2019, the Court of Appeal found that the Prevent guidance on inviting controversial speakers at universities was unlawfully unbalanced and must be rewritten.
In January 2020, The Guardian reported that Extinction Rebellion, the climate emergency campaign group promoted by Greta Thunberg, had been included on an official list of extremist organisations whose members should be reported to the authorities. The South East Counter Terrorism Unit later said that after review, the document was being withdrawn.
An independent review of Prevent led by Lord Carlile was announced in August 2019 as part of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019. However it was dropped after a petitioner complained about his potential bias because he had spoken out in favour of the strategy prior to his review, and the Home Office vacated the initiative. In January 2021, the Patel Home Office appointed Sir William Shawcross to head the review of the Prevent programme. On 20 February 2024 the Shawcross review was published in final form. At the time Shawcross found that some recommendations had not been implemented and the public was at risk. The scheme had repeatedly "failed" to identify attackers, and there was a "sense of lost purpose". In the wake of the October 7 massacre in Israel certain segments of the British population were frightened, especially those concerned with a "dangerous" surge in anti-semitism. The Cooper Home Office said 30 of 34 recommendations had been implemented and the remaining balance were in the works. Shawcross said that staff within Prevent were overly concerned with "tackling the rise in Right-wing terrorism", to the detriment of other dangers. He questioned the allocation of resource in Prevent and was troubled by the disparity with MI5's allocation, which stood at 75% caseload was focused on Islamist threats whereas one in ten staff of Prevent were focused on the same issue.
The four Ps Prevent
Prevent, introduced by CONTEST following the 7/7 London terrorist attacks in 2005, is a multi-agency approach which aims to reduce the threat of terrorism by preventing people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It claims to be comprehensive in its aims to deradicalise and rehabilitate vulnerable people.
Prevent aims to:
tackle ideological causes of terrorism; intervene early to support people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism; and ehabilitate those who have engaged in terrorist activity.
Prevent emphasises early intervention to stop vulnerable or easily susceptible individuals from being drawn into extremist ideologies. As radicalisation has no single pathway, the government aims to address risks early in several ways.
Prevent monitors trends in radicalisation and extremism, with particular attention on the rise of Islamic extremism and right-wing ideologies.
Prevent uses local authorities, schools, healthcare providers, police, and other sectors to recognise and support individuals at risk. Anyone, including members of the public, can refer individuals they believe to be at risk of radicalisation to Prevent.
The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 created a positive duty for those working in education or health to report those who they deem at risk of radicalization. All National Health Service (NHS) staff are required to undergo basic Prevent Awareness Training. Schools provide the educational dimension of the Prevent duty through the Citizenship lessons on the National Curriculum. Since July 2015, schools also have a legal responsibility to have "due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism" under the Prevent duty and Child Protection and Safeguarding guidelines. The Prevent Assessment Framework evaluates referrals, to assess if the individual is at risk of being radicalised and determine if they require intervention.
The deradicalisation intervention programme is known as Channel. It is led by the police and liberal Muslim mentors. Despite the voluntary nature of Channel resulting in only 13% of Prevent referrals adopted in the year ending March 2022; of these 89% finished the program with no further concerns of radicalisation. In 2020, 6,287 people were referred to Prevent. Of these, 1,424 were referred to Channel and 697 were taken on as cases for Channel. 43% of the cases taken on by Channel were for right wing extremism and 30% for Islamic extremism.
Prevent has had a number of notable failures, As a result of the failure of Prevent to prevent the July 2024 Southport stabbings, the Home Office secretary Yvette Cooper concluded "that too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology" in the programme. Cooper announced in January 2025 that there would be a review on the threshold at which Prevent intervenes, with senior lawyer David Anderson being assigned by Keir Starmer as the Independent Prevent Commissioner to perform the review.
Pursue
The aim of Pursue is to stop terrorist attacks happening in the UK or against UK interests overseas. The main objectives of Pursue are to detect, understand, investigate, and disrupt terrorist activity. There are multiple types of terrorists that are being pursued under this system, including:
International terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda. Domestic terrorist groups, such as Islamist movements in London responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, and further attacks in 2017 such as the Manchester Arena bombing. Lone wolf attacks, for example Darren Osbourne, the perpetrator of the 2017 Finsbury Park van attack. Hostile nation states, for example Russia's involvement in the Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, also known as the Salisbury Poisonings.
Counter Terrorism Policing work with MI5 to develop intelligence, and with the Crown Prosecution Service to put compelling evidence before the courts. The public can also support law enforcement to pursue potential terrorist activity through calling the anti-terrorist hotline. Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) encourages individuals to report suspicious activity which could be related to terrorism through online reporting, or by contacting the police in confidence on their dedicated phone number.
Government departments and agencies work collaboratively to disrupt terrorist activity. Counter-terrorism policing, MI5, and wider intelligence work together closely to investigate, detect, and disrupt terrorism, alongside the Criminal Justice System. The Ministry of Defence is a key contributor to CONTEST strategy. It particularly supports Pursue through its military capability to disrupt overseas terrorist groups and its support of overseas law enforcement and security agencies. Its support for conflict prevention work has also contributed to the CONTEST objectives. Work overseas is crucial to Pursue, as previous UK attack plots have had support from terrorists overseas, as well as UK individuals being radicalised while overseas. Working with international partners therefore attempts to disrupt the threat before it manifests itself in the UK.
An important element of Pursue is the independent oversight regime, which scrutinises the significant powers and tools used to stop potential terrorist attacks, ensuring they are used proportionately and appropriately.
Proportionality must be considered when using broader powers for terrorism investigations. The Secretary of State must be satisfied that the information obtained could not reasonably have been obtained by any other means. The intelligence gain must be sufficiently great to justify an intrusion, as well as any unavoidable collateral intrusion against individuals other than the target. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ensures that investigatory techniques are used in a way that is compatible with the Article 8 right to respect for private and family life, as in the European Convention on Human Rights.
Pursue is becoming increasingly complex as the threat of terrorism continues to diversify. Between 1 January and 31 December 2022, 169 persons were arrested for terrorism related activity, with 232 persons held in custody for terrorism-connected offences. From 2017 to July 2023, MI5 and the police have disrupted 39 late stage attack plots.
Within Pursue there are different elements of strategy involved: detection, prosecution, punishment, control, and disruption.
Detection involves gaining specific reliable information and evidence. This may require the use of various surveillance methods such as hacking for digital information, or human surveillance through undercover policing. There are specific powers which can be utilised for these purposes, such as the specific power of arrest on suspicion of a terrorist, under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Additionally those within the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, such as targeted interception, which involves requesting a warrant from the Secretary of State to intercept transmission of communications.
There is information related to security and intelligence, and special investigation powers which is protected by the Official Secrets Act 1989. This provides legal protection against unauthorised disclosure of information and espionage, and protest certain tactics of information gathering.