News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Nearly 100 suspected new British extremists are being reported to the authorities every week, according to figures seen by the Mirror.

The Government’s de-radicalisation scheme is said to be overwhelmed with three times as many people referred to it this year.

The Freedom of Information figures show 2,015 cases were reported to the Channel programme up to the end of May this year – significantly more than the 1,681 from the whole of

2014.

Haras Rafiq, head of the counter- extremism Quilliam Foundation, said: “I’m not surprised. Islamic State’s propaganda and social media strategy is second to none.

“The programme is bursting at the seams and it is going to get worse before it gets better.

“Since July, schools and hospitals have been legally required to act on suspicions of radicalisation. So we could see numbers rise even further.

“More mentors are needed urgently.”

Channel was set up in 2007 to try to stop the radicalisation of Britons such as Mohammed Emwazi, who featuered in the horrific “Jihadi John” beheading videos.

In total, 6,303 people have been reported to it.

Last year 577 of those referred were under 18.

Of those, 47 were under 10 and the youngest was just four years old.

Security Minister John Hayes said: "As a country, we have a duty to challenge, at every turn, the twisted narrative that has corrupted some of our vulnerable young people.

"Since Channel was rolled out nationally in April 2012, there have been over 4,000 referrals and hundreds of people at risk of being drawn into violent extremism have been provided with support.

"Referrals to Channel have increased since 2014, however only a small percentage of these require specialist intervention support. We have dedicated sufficient resources to the programme to cope with demand. We will keep this position under close review."

The National Police Chief’s Council added: “This is a very rare occurrence in which it was felt that channel was the best support mechanism to safeguard the child and that it was necessary to enable the family unit to benefit from the expertise and wrap around support that channel provides.”

Extremists reported to the Channel programme Government figures from a Freedom of Information request

Last year, the largest number of referrals came from the South East, followed by the North West, London and the North East.

So far this year, the largest number has been from the North West, followed by the North East, the East Midlands and London.

In the years up to 2013, barely one in five of those referred to Channel ended up receiving support after going through what the NPCC described as a “robust multi-agency assessment process”.

An investigation by the Sunday Mirror last year found that government spending on Prevent had been halved since 2009.

Funding was was cut from £91million in 2010 to £35million in 2012/13.