Counter-terrorism strategy
About the counter-terrorism strategy
The aim of the UK Government’s counter-terrorism strategy is to reduce the risk we face from international terrorism so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence.
Our revised strategy
The terrorist threat and the risks we face are always changing.
We have updated our CONTEST strategy to take account of this changing threat and new challenges we face.
The revised strategy:
- Provides a context for this work by describing the recent history of the international terrorist threat.
- Sets out the key underlying causes that create and sustain terrorism: areas of unresolved conflict in the world and failed and fragile states where terrorism can thrive; terrorists’ use of new technology; the ideology behind violent extremism and the process of radicalisation that convinces some people to support or carry out terrorist acts.
- Develops new action to stop the source of terrorist recruits by preventing people from becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism. This work draws on a new and deeper understanding of how individuals become radicalised.
- Creates comprehensive programmes of action here and overseas to tackle both the symptoms and the causes of terrorism.
- Indicates how new resources and techniques will be used to disrupt terrorist operations planned against this country and prosecute those responsible.
- Ensures action in the UK is thoroughly coordinated with our work internationally, so it has maximum impact in countering the terrorist threat.
- Strengthens our protection of terrorist targets, including transport and essential services.
- Includes new work to counter the threat of attack using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear devices.
- Involves a wider range of people and resources than ever before, ensuring we are all working together to counter the threat.
Rights and Freedoms
The principles and values that form the very basis of our society are at the core of our counter-terrorism strategy.
Terrorism threatens some of our most fundamental rights, including the most important human right of all – the right to life.
Protecting the lives of the British people is our most important job. The aim of our strategy is to allow people to live normally, free from fear.
We put respect for human rights at the centre of our response to the terrorist threat and we go to great lengths to ensure our response is proportionate, fair, and effective. Where necessary, to ensure this, we have put in place robust, independently monitored safeguards and checks.
Read Countering International Terrorism: The United Kingdom's Strategy in full
