Far-right terrorists continue to pose a serious threat to British mosques, with children and teenagers increasingly appearing in extremism cases, according to a new security assessment.
Pool Re, Britain’s government-backed terrorism reinsurer, said in its August terrorism update that extreme right-wing terrorism remains a significant threat to the UK and accounts for approximately a quarter of MI5’s counter-terrorism caseload.
More concerning for British Muslims, the organisation assessed that far-right terrorists “almost certainly maintain the intent to target mosques,” pointing to a series of recent plots involving extremely young suspects.
The assessment, published yesterday, comes just weeks after a 14-year-old boy was charged with allegedly planning terrorist attacks against two mosques in the Sutton area of south London.
Counter Terrorism Policing said the teenager was arrested on July 9 before officers searching an address found documents that caused concern.
He was subsequently charged with preparing acts of terrorism linked to extreme right-wing ideology, as well as a separate racially aggravated criminal damage offence.
Police said the terrorism charge related specifically to an alleged plan targeting two mosques, which were contacted and provided with specialist security advice.
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Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, described the case as a “very serious terrorism charge against a young boy” and acknowledged that it would be particularly alarming for Muslims.
She also said police were seeing an increasing number of children and young people appearing in counter-terrorism casework.
Pool Re said the case demonstrated that far-right extremists retain a clear intention to attack Muslim places of worship.
It also highlighted the case of a 17-year-old who was sentenced to 10 years in custody in August 2025 after admitting plans to attack Inverclyde Muslim Centre in Scotland.
The teenager was arrested outside the mosque carrying an airgun, aerosol cans and ball bearings and had been inspired by extreme right-wing ideology.
Another alleged plot saw two 18-year-olds from Cardiff charged in December 2025 with preparing terrorist acts. They are alleged to have discussed targeting the Madina Mosque in Cathays as well as an Eid celebration.
Children drawn into far-right extremism
However, perhaps the most alarming aspect of the latest assessment is the age of some of those now appearing in far-right terrorism investigations.
Pool Re said children and young adults are likely to remain particularly vulnerable to radicalisation by extreme right-wing ideologues because extremist material is readily available online.
Official government figures reinforce that concern. Among Prevent referrals relating to extreme right-wing concerns in the year ending March 2025, 35% of those whose age was known were just 11 to 15 years old.
Extreme right-wing concerns accounted for 1,798 Prevent referrals during that year, an increase of 37% from the previous year.
They also represented 42% of cases adopted by the government’s Channel deradicalisation programme where an ideology was specified — considerably more than the proportion relating to what the government categorises as “Islamist extremism.”
Threat to Muslim communities
Pool Re assesses that racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia remain important ideological drivers of extreme right-wing terrorism.
It says potential targets include religious minorities and other groups considered incompatible with a far-right worldview, while the shift away from organised extremist groups towards individuals radicalised in online spaces has made the threat increasingly fragmented.
The latest warning comes amid heightened concern over attacks and threats against mosques and Muslim communities across Britain.
In May, MI5 raised the UK’s national terrorism threat level to “severe,” meaning an attack is considered highly likely. The Security Service said extreme right-wing terrorism had been on a steadily rising trajectory, although terrorism inspired by groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda continued to constitute the largest share of its counter-terrorism work.
