Terrorism in the United Kingdom

Terrorism in the United Kingdom, according to the Home Office, poses a significant threat to the state.^[1] There have been various causes of terrorism in the UK. Before the 2000s, most attacks were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict (the Troubles). In the late 20th century there were also attacks by Islamic terrorist groups. Since 1970, there have been at least 3,395 terrorist-related deaths in the UK, the highest in western Europe.^[2] The vast majority of the deaths were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict and happened in Northern Ireland.^[2] In mainland Great Britain, there were 430 terrorist-related deaths between 1971 and 2001. Of these, 125 deaths were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict,^[3] and 305 deaths were linked to other causes,^[4] including 270 in the Lockerbie bombing.^[4] Since 2001, there have been almost 100 terrorist-related deaths in Great Britain.

The UK’s CONTEST strategy aims to prevent terrorism and other forms of extremism.^[5] It places a responsibility on education and health bodies to report individuals who are deemed to be at risk of radicalisation.^[5]^: 35 The 2023 CONTEST report indicated that 75 per cent of the Security Service (MI5)'s caseload was from monitoring Islamist threats.^[6]

1,834 people were arrested in the UK from September 2001 to December 2009 in connection with terrorism, of which 422 were charged with terrorism-related offences and 237 were convicted.^[7]

^ "List of proscribed terrorist groups" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
^ ^a ^b "How many people are killed by terrorist attacks in the UK?"". The Telegraph. 5 June 2017.
^ "Sutton Index of Deaths: Geographical Location of the death". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b Douglas, Roger. Law, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Terrorism. University of Michigan Press, 2014. p.18
^ ^a ^b CONTEST The United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering Terrorism (PDF). HM Government. 2018. ISBN 978-1-5286-0209-9.
^ Cite error: The named reference CONTEST2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Alan Travis. "No terror arrests in 100,000 police counter-terror searches, figures show". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-01-28.

[TERRORLIST-1] "List of proscribed terrorist groups" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-22.

[telegraph-june2017-2] "How many people are killed by terrorist attacks in the UK?"". The Telegraph. 5 June 2017.

[3] "Sutton Index of Deaths: Geographical Location of the death". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 5 June 2017.

[douglas-4] Douglas, Roger. Law, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Terrorism. University of Michigan Press, 2014. p.18

[:0-5] CONTEST The United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering Terrorism (PDF). HM Government. 2018. ISBN 978-1-5286-0209-9.

[CONTEST2023-6] Cite error: The named reference CONTEST2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[7] Alan Travis. "No terror arrests in 100,000 police counter-terror searches, figures show". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-01-28.

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