Prevent strategy is about intelligence-gathering, Amber Rudd admits

Officials generally deny that the Prevent strategy is about intelligence-gathering. SACC and other civil liberties groups have long argued that it is obvious that intelligence-gathering is central to Prevent. Home Secretary Amber Rudd has now acknowledged this. Responding on the BBC's Question Time to suggestions that police cuts were a factor in the Manchester bombing, she said:

“That is not where we get the intelligence from. We get the intelligence much more from the Prevent strategy, which engages with local community groups, not through the police. It is not about policing so much as engaging with community leaders in the area.”