Government concedes PREVENT has lost all credibility as it tries to revive it through accepting an ‘independent Review’
London – In allowing an ‘independent review’ of PREVENT to go ahead the Government has conceded that the policy lacks any trust or credibility. The announcement made by the Security Minister Ben Wallace should be viewed with caution by communities, academics and activists who have been successful in their outright rejection of the policy and in demonstrating its toxicity. This is a time to double up on the calls to end PREVENT. Wallace’s own Parliamentary speech on the Review seemed to point in this direction; as being a means to pacify opponents without offering anything substantive – similar to recent disappointments such as the Chilcot review and Leveson Inquiry. ### ### Dr Asim Qureshi, CAGE Research Director said: “The announcement today is indicative that the PREVENT programme is highly mistrusted by those who are at most risk of being impacted by it. Rather than scrapping a fundamentally misguided policy that is not fit for purpose, a ‘review’ when no long-term impact assessments have been carried out in relation to the harm that it caused, will lend it a new lease of life.”