Intelligence agencies are being brought in to help tackle the rising far-right terror threat in Britain, the home secretary has announced after a series of attempted attacks.

At least four far-right terror plots have been foiled since March 2017, with one man admitting planning to bomb a mosque earlier this week and another accused of stabbing a man in an anti-Muslim rampage inspired by the Christchurch shooting.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the remit of the MI5-led Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) was being extended “to include assessing the threat posed by extreme right-wing terrorism”.

“This change will help to provide a better understanding of the shape and size of this aspect of the threat,” he added in a document. “The marked shift in the nature of extreme right-wing activity, and in the organisation of such groups and their reach, from being small groups mainly focused on promoting anti-immigration views and white supremacy to actual engagement in terrorist activity, has resulted in this aspect of the threat presenting a higher risk to national security than it previously has.”

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Show all 14 1 /14 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Oxford Street terror plot Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad EPA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Rosie Cooper MP plot Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington Hope Not Hate UK terror plots that were foiled by security services 'Poppy terror plot' Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public. The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014 PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services National Action arrests Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Shane Fletcher A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque" PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Heathrow airport arrests A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Extradition of Abu Hamza Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a “significant plot” PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services October 2014 arrests Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said “may have foiled the early stages” of a plan to attack the UK Peter Macdiarmid/Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Anjem Choudary arrest Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria Oli Scarff/Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing Police seize £250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014 Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Tarik Hassane arrest A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Abu Qatada removed from UK Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013 Reuters UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Haider Ahmed knife plot Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019 Counter Terrorism Policing South East

JTAC is overseen by the director general of MI5 and brings together 16 government departments and agencies, including MI6, GCHQ and counterterror police to analyse threats to the UK.

Mr Javid was responding to recommendations in an annual report by the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Max Hill QC.

Both he and his predecessor, David Anderson QC, called for counterterror powers to be used more evenly against different kinds of extremists.

A review launched by police and MI5 after the London and Manchester attacks came to the same conclusion, proposing changes to “ensure the equivalence of processes in analysing and dealing with all kinds of terrorism, irrespective of the ideology that inspires them”.

It outlined plans for “formal dialogue and structures to enable MI5’s involvement” in far-right cases, and increased intelligence-sharing with police.

The government’s refreshed counterterror strategy was clear that the “threat from Islamist terrorism remains the foremost and most significant”, but warned of a growing threat from the extreme right wing.

While Isis and al-Qaeda have been dealt with by MI5 and MI6 as “international” terrorism, the far-right has previously been classed as “domestic extremism” and left to police.

The historic division came under mounting scrutiny after authorities were caught off-guard by the murder of Jo Cox by a white supremacist in 2016.

The banning of neo-Nazi group National Action later that year was hailed as progress, but a plot by one of its members to behead a Labour MP was not known to police or security services until a fellow extremist raised the alarm.

The Independent understands that a turning point came in the meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee that followed the Finsbury Park attack in June 2017.

When Theresa May asked for a security assessment of perpetrator Darren Osborne, who had ploughed a van into Muslim worshippers and killed one man, she was said to be surprised to be told MI5 had no information and he was not their responsibility.

Four far-right UK terrorist plots foiled since Westminster attack, police reveal

Police had not been monitoring Osborne and his murder trial heard that he had become radicalised online within a matter of weeks. He was cited as an inspiration by the Christchurch mosque shooter.

“Evolving technologies and increasing exploitation of social media for the purpose of spreading terrorist material and radicalising others poses a particularly difficult challenge,” Mr Javid said. “It has become all too clear that the UK was experiencing a shift in the nature of the threat, rather than a spike.”

Police are currently running a record of around 700 live terror investigations, and the head of counterterror policing has warned that Islamists and the far-right are “feeding each other”.