POLICE have seen referrals for extreme far-right material online rocket by more than 40 per cent during the pandemic. 

So far this year a total of 3,000 pieces of suspected terrorist content have been flagged to the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit compared to 2,796 in 2019 — a rise of around 7 per cent.

However the increase in far-right referrals has soared from 134 in 2019 to 192 between January 1 and November 20 this year – a rise of 43 per cent. 

The sharp rise has prompted warnings from the unit’s Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Southworth that lonely young people could be drawn to extremist ideologies during the pandemic.  

Mr Southworth said: “There has been a slight shift during the pandemic, which may simply reflect people being at home more, and ultimately perhaps spending more time online.

“It could be a sad corollary really of the Covid pandemic that we’ve not yet really fully realised.”

Earlier this year, police warned that the fastest growing terrorist threat in Britain is from the far right. A third of all terror plots to kill in Britain since 2017 — seven out of 22 — were driven by extreme-right causes. It also follows the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a far-right terrorist in 2016.

A review into the state of the far right in 2020 by Hope Not Hate found that the threat is increasingly coming from younger and more dangerous individuals.

In the year ending September 2019, a total of 11 under-18s were arrested compared to 18 during the same time period this year. 

The unit has issued a warning to parents that their children may be viewing extremist material online during the Christmas break. 

Stand up to Racism co-convenor Weyman Bennett said the figures were “another warning which we must heed.” 

“We ignore far-right and fascist terrorism at our peril,” he said. 

“Jo Cox’s murder was a warning to all of us about the dangers of this form of terrorism.

“All efforts should be made to stop the pernicious poison of far right politics that has been encouraged by people like Trump.

“History warns us that it’s important to stop these people while they are small.”

Mr Bennett added that the police and authorities have “wrongly targeted” the Muslim community, trade unionists and left-wing activists, rather than focusing on the threat from the far right.