Half of terror suspects white as far-right threat increases

♦ Almost half of the suspected terrorists arrested last year were white, as the threat from Right-wing extremism grew in the UK.

Home Office figures showed the number of white people arrested for terrorist activity was 118, compared with 92 of those with an Asian ethnicity.

The proportion of whites rose to 45 per cent of all terrorist-related arrests for the year ending June 2019, up from 38 per cent in 2018.

Experts said some of the white suspects would be Muslim converts, but the majority would be far-right extremists, with the increased number reflecting counter-terror commanders’ growing focus on the threat.

The number of far-right convicted terrorists held in prison also rose from 28 to 33, continuing an upward trend over the past three years. By contrast, the number of Islamistextremist prisoners held in custody fell 11 per cent to 171 compared with a peak of 192 in December 2017.