Since the 9/11 terror attacks and the London bombings of 7 July 2005, people concerned with extremism have mostly channelled their attention to violent religious extremism. However, this has led to negligence in the understanding of other forms of extremist threats, especially from the far-right. As one senior counter-terrorism officer has recently pointed out, the rise of the far-right is the fastest-growing terrorist threat in the UK. A third of all terror plots to kill in Britain since 2017 were by those driven by extreme-right causes. As the Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism points out, although jihadists still remain by far the most significant terrorist threat to the UK, along with far-right, other forms of religious extremism, far left, or even animal rights extremism cause considerable concern for the safety of our communities. Therefore, the discussion aims to define (or identify) the recent trends in extremism, whether violent or hateful extremism, and discuss what roles can the government, public bodies, tech companies and civil society play in countering this imminent threat.
