Number of terrorist prisoners in Britain hits record high
The “vast majority”, 58%, held Islamist-extremist views and 29% had extreme right-wing beliefs, according to Home Office data.
A record number of terrorists are behind bars in Britain, figures have revealed.
Listen to this article
As of the end of March, there were 273 criminals in prison for terrorism, the highest number since records began in 2010 (126).
The number is up 3% year-on-year and has surpassed a peak recorded at the end of 2025 (267).
The “vast majority”, 58% (159) held Islamist-extremist views and 29% (80) had extreme right-wing beliefs, according to Home Office data.
While 34 (12%) were classed as holding “other” ideologies – a category which includes left-wing extremists, dissident Irish extremists, domestic extremists and terrorists where a specific ideology has not been identified, or their views are not known.
No breakdown of how many terrorists fall into each category is provided.
Read more: Betting account in George Cottrell’s name received $9 million in crypto from unidentified sources
Read more: Friend of Manchester synagogue attacker jailed for life over military base terror plot
Some 41 terrorists were freed from jail last year.
Terrorists will not be subject to the Government’s plans to release prisoners early from jail to tackle overcrowding and will still have to serve two-thirds of their sentence behind bars and face the Parole Board before walking free.
The figures, published on Thursday, also show a continued surge in terror arrests in the wake of the ban on supporting Palestine Action.
There were 3,061 arrests for suspected terrorist activity in the year to March, of which 2,819 were linked to supporting the group after it was proscribed in July last year.
Since then, a battle has broken out in the courts between Palestine Action and the Government over the legality of the move.
Members or supporters of the group face up to 14 years in prison under the ban brought in by then-home secretary Yvette Cooper.
The news prompted protests against the decision and led to arrests of demonstrators holding placards supporting the group.
In February High Court judges ruled the Government’s proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful after a legal challenge from the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori.
But the Home Office challenged the decision and saw it overturned in the Court of Appeal after judges found the ban on the organisation as a terror group was a “justified and proportionate” interference on freedom of expression rights.
Earlier this month Ms Ammori made a bid to take her case to the Supreme Court.