Number 10 has refused to say whether its review of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy will be drafted, amid reports it has been delayed by a row between Michael Gove and the Home Office over whether to reveal the names of suspected Islamist extremists.
The Prevent review was delivered to the Home Office by William Shawcross, a former head of the Charity Commission, in the summer.
Draft extracts leaked to The Guardian in May revealed that he argued controversially that the government had focused too much on right-wing extremism and should now crack down on Islamist extremism.
However, it has not been published, and Whitehall sources say it has been held up by disagreements over the government’s response to its recommendations.
Sources said Gove was trying to get increasingly involved because of his joint responsibility for Operation Prevent on the ground.
The Times reported on Wednesday that it was delayed by a row between the Home Office, led by Suella Braverman, and Gove, with the rise, the housing and communities secretary pushing for fewer redactions of details of Islamist extremist organizations and individuals.
However, Home Office and Number 10 sources flatly denied there was any disagreement between the cabinet ministers, saying their views were aligned and the pair had not discussed it.
A Home Office source said: “There have been no redactions in the report. And there has also been no row between the home secretary and the level secretary, they have not even discussed the report .
Asked when the review would be published, spokesman Rishi Sunak said it was “right to take the time to prepare and give a considered response”.
Pressed on whether there would be redactions, he said: “I’m not able to go into that level of detail. It’s only right that we take the time to prepare it and prepare a considered response alongside it.
“I am not able to say how it will be presented and published, but, as I say, it will be published in due time.”
Asked if publication had been delayed by disputes, particularly between Braverman and Gove, he added: “I’m not going to get into individual conversations between ministers and secretaries of state. We are currently reviewing the recommendations of this independent review and will publish the answers in due time.”
The review is understood to have been completed by the summer and Priti Patel, the former home secretary, was set to publish it, but the leadership contest stalled.
The number of referrals to Prevent related to the far right overtook Islamist radicalization for the first time last year. Referrals of far-right threats from the Prevent a Channel programme, which offers a more intensive intervention, had already surpassed Islamist radicalization as of 2020.