Twenty years ago, Islamist terrorists murdered 52 people and injured almost 800 people in London – this was the deadliest terrorist attack ever committed on UK soil.
We remember the victims and survivors who were targeted that day – those who were simply going about their daily business, only to be attacked by terrorists who were pursuing extremist beliefs. The victims and their families are in our prayers.
We also pay tribute to all those who work tirelessly to keep our country safe, including the emergency services on that tragic day twenty years ago, who put their own safety at risk to help those in need. They work daily to keep us safe.
We cannot shy away from the facts. Islamist extremism is the single biggest domestic security threat that we face as a country.
Twenty years after Islamist terrorists murdered 52 people, we must not shy away from the facts - Chris PhilpGetty Images
Islamists are responsible for 94 per cent of all deaths caused by terrorism since 1999 and around 88 per cent of injuries caused by terrorism over the same period.
Last year, Islamists accounted for 80 per cent of the police’s counter-terror caseload, 75 per cent of MI5’s terror caseload and 63 per cent of terrorists in custody.
Despite this, only 13 per cent of the Prevent caseload relates to Islamist extremism. The disparity is so stark, and the only conclusion can be that Prevent is substantially under-engaging those with Islamist ideologies.
However, a review into Prevent, the Government’s deradicalisation programme, found that the programme’s definition of extremist Islamist ideology is too narrow, which ‘does not allow Prevent to reflect accurately and deal effectively with the lethal risks we actually face’.
The Labour Government must urgently commit to overhauling Prevent so that it does not ignore non-violent Islamist narratives and networks of terrorism, as described in the Shawcross Review.
The country must continue to respond to terrorist threats from Islamist extremists, and we must also be aware of other non-violent threats we face – such as the creation of a one-religion blasphemy law by the CPS and the courts or attempts to silence criticism of Islam with a new expansive definition of Islamophobia currently being developed by the Government.
Anti-Muslim hatred is obviously wrong and should be fought, but criticising or discussing any religion should not be forbidden or criminalised.
The Labour Government do not seem to understand how great the threat from Islamist extremism is. The Prime Minister cannot even bring himself to say who committed the 7/7 attacks or why they did so.
The Islamist extremists who carried out the evil attack on 7 July 2005 did not just seek to divide us; they sought to murder and terrorise the British public.
They despise us and our way of life. We owe it to the victims of the 7/7 attacks to be honest about the threat we face from Islamist extremism. If we are not, we will never win against this radical ideology.
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