Record View says the public needs a counter-terrorism system that works.
The Prevent counter-terrorism scheme should have intervened to halt the Southport killer before he launched his murderous rampage.
A damning report published yesterday found Axel Rudakubana could have been monitored, treated and potentially turned away from violence by the programme. Teachers warned Prevent officials three times that the future killer was obsessed with violence.
Shockingly, on each occasion, his case was closed because he did not seem to have an identifiable terrorist motive. Rudakubana is now serving a life term in prison with a minimum term of 52 years after killing three young girls and injuring 10 others, including two adults.
The report into Prevent found that between 2019 and 2021 teachers referred Rudakubana three times under a national duty to alert police and other agencies to potential extremists. It’s clear the UK’s security services are not up to speed with the danger of young men who have been radicalised online and want to inflict harm on innocent people.
It’s hard to see how the public can have faith in Prevent given its catalogue of failings. It’s clear government agencies must take more seriously what potential extremists are posting publicly on social media.
More often than not, violent maniacs are clear in their intentions and make no effort to hide them. The public needs a counter-terrorism system that works. Prevent is not it.
Whip smart
Most observers agree both the UK and Scottish Governments have not done enough to prevent the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery.
And Labour MP Brian Leishman has led the charge on trying to get more action to save the plant. Now he has been suspended from the Labour whip at Westminster for refusing to toe the party line on this and other issues.
The closure put him in an extremely difficult position just months after being elected. Despite his inexperience, Leishman has not been scared to stand up for the workers and criticise his own party’s government.
He rightly said the UK Government would be letting down the workers if the refinery shuts and was brave to call for it to step in and save the plant. He rose to the challenge in a way that many others wouldn’t have and deserves to be commended for that.
No MP should be punished for trying to prevent a key part of Scotland’s infrastructure from shutting down. Labour should restore the whip to Leishman and bring him back into the fold as soon as possible.
