The UK counter-terrorism strategy
The UK has one of the most comprehensive and wide-ranging approaches to tackling terrorism anywhere in the world.
The strategy, known as CONTEST, focuses on the most significant security threat to the people of the UK today – the threat from international terrorism. The aim of CONTEST is ‘to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from international terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence’.
CONTEST was revised and the updated strategy published in March 2009. The updated strategy takes into account the changing threat and everything we have learned about tackling it.
We are committed to sharing information as openly as we can: we have therefore published our strategy in more detail than ever before. It sets out comprehensive programmes of action here and overseas. The programmes are organised into four main areas of work:
- Pursue – to stop terrorist attacks
- Prevent – to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism
- Protect – to strengthen our protection against terrorist attack
- Prepare – where an attack cannot be stopped, to mitigate its impact.
Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare reinforce and complement each another to reduce the terrorist threat to the UK and our overseas interests.
The strategy includes action at the international, national and local level. We have a parallel Olympic and Paralympic Safety and Security Strategy to protect the 2012 Games from all types of risk, including terrorism.
More information
- Read Countering International Terrorism: The United Kingdom's Strategy
- Watch a video (new window) about CONTEST or read the transcript (new window) of this video
- Read a short leaflet about the CONTEST strategy, including examples of supporting work.
Explore this section:
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Stopping terrorist attacks
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Stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism
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Strengthening our protection against attack
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Mitigating the impact of attacks
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Key facts about what we are achieving under CONTEST.
