Home Office written question – answered at on 9 January 2026.
Rupert Lowe
Independent, Great Yarmouth
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the current level of threat from Islamist extremists.
Dan Jarvis
The Minister of State, Home Department, Minister of State (Home Office) (Security), Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, provides a comprehensive framework for tackling all forms of terrorism and is kept under constant review to ensure our approach remains fit for purpose in response to emerging risks and challenges.
As outlined in the publication of the most recent iteration of CONTEST, in July 2023, the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, which accounts for about three quarters of MI5 caseload.
The threat we see today and in the coming years is more diverse, dynamic and complex. This includes a domestic threat which is less predictable and harder to detect. This is combined with an evolving threat from Islamist terrorist groups overseas, and an operating environment where accelerating advances in technology provide both opportunity and risk to our counter-terrorism efforts.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.