More white people arrested for terror offences last year than any other ethnicity

Far-right extremism is the fastest growing threat in the UK 

More white people have been arrested in the last year suspected of terrorism than any other ethnicity for the third year in a row, the Home Office have said.

Home Office data shows that 89 white people were arrested suspected of terrorism, versus 63 Asian people, 15 black people, and 18 people from other ethnic groups. 

Arrests of those from an Asian backgrounds are down five per cent.

Concerns about the growth of far-right extremism have grown in recent years, with children as young as 10 being investigated over possible links to the ideology. 

682 children were referred over far-right terrorism concerns in 2017-18, which was a five-fold increase from 2014-15’s 131.

And Home Office data has found that the number of far-right prisoners convicted of terror offences in the UK climbed by a third in 2019 - to its highest ever recorded level.

Last year, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, Neil Basu, said young white people are being radicalised online. 

"We are seeing more young people being drawn towards terrorist activity," he said.

"That is a relatively new and worrying trend in the UK, because just a few years ago we were not seeing anyone that young amongst our casework."

In November 2020, 18-year-old Harry Vaughn from London was sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution after pleading guilty to 14 accounts of terrorism.

Among his offences, he was found to have launched a forum for right-wing militants preparing for "a race war."

Also last year, a 17-year-old from Durham also spoke about an "inevitable race war", and was sentenced to six years and eight months at Manchester Crown Court. 

He planned attacks and his preparations included researching explosives and trying to obtain dangerous chemicals. He also wrote about his plans to attack synagogues using Molotov cocktails. In 2017, the government banned the far-right group "National Action" and last year other neo-Nazi groups were also banned - with Feuerkreig Division banned in July 2020. If you have concerns about radicalisation, please visit Let's Talk About It which provides information on the signs to look out for, and what to do if it happens.