CONTEST

CONTEST is the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy, first developed by Sir David Omand and the Home Office in early 2003 as the immediate response to 9/11, and a revised version was made public in 2006. Further revisions were published on 24 March 2009, July 2011, June 2018, and July 2023. The aim of the strategy is "to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence."

The UK government's definition of "Terrorism" is set out within the Terrorism Act 2000, and the Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) unit has been set up to implement CONTEST.

CONTEST is composed of the "four Ps" – Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare – which aim to reduce terrorism at all levels through: Preventing more people from being radicalised; Pursuing suspects operationally and legally; Protecting the public through security measures, and Preparing to manage the response to mitigate the impact of an inevitable attack. Prevent is the most prominent and controversial of these. It includes a duty ("the Prevent duty") for public bodies such as schools and universities to identify and refer those displaying signs of potential extremist or terrorist activity, and a programme ("Channel") to de-radicalise such individuals. It has been criticised by civil rights groups and British Muslims for stigmatising Muslim communities, as well as by conservative pundits for identifying right-wing extremists as potential terrorists.