Number of white people arrested for terror attacks now the largest by ethnic group

New figures have been released by the Home Office

Statistics now show that more white people are arrested for terror attacks than any other ethnic group for the first time in over a decade. White terror suspects accounted for 38% of terror-related arrests last year. Suspects of 'Asian appearance' accounted for 37% whilst black suspects made up 9%. Overall, 351 terror arrests were made in total over the last 12 months ending in July, a decrease of 22% from the year prior. The report said: “The fall is partly due to a relatively large number of arrests being made following terrorist attacks in London and Manchester last year. This was the first time, since the year ending June 2005, that the proportion of white people arrested has exceeded the proportion of Asian people arrested. It was the second highest number of arrests of white people in a year since the data collection began in 2001.” A growing proportion of the terrorists currently imprisoned are made of far-right extremists, with the number rising from 10 to 28 over the last year. The number of Islamist extremists incarcerated dipped for the first time. The Home Office said: “The number of Islamist extremist prisoners saw a slight decrease for the first time to 178 in custody. “The proportion of prisoners holding far-right ideologies has increased steadily over the past three years, with the number up from 10 to 28 in the latest year.” Since the Westminster attack in March 2017, security services have prevented 13 Islamist extremist plots and four from the far-right.