Record number of terrorists – 273 – are behind bars in Britain, with almost all either Islamic or right-wing extremists

A record 273 people are now in prison in Britain for terrorism-related offences, according to newly released figures, with the vast majority linked to either Islamist extremism or right-wing ideology. The figure represents the highest number of terrorism prisoners ever recorded in the UK, highlighting the continued scale of the threat from both forms of extremism despite years of counter-terrorism efforts and prosecutions.

The data shows Islamist and right-wing extremists together account for almost the entirety of the terrorist prison population, underscoring how these two categories continue to dominate the UK's terrorism caseload. The rising prisoner count comes amid wider debate over prison capacity and sentencing policy, including political disagreement over early release schemes, as authorities balance managing a growing cohort of extremist offenders with pressures elsewhere in the justice system.