In recent years there have been several terror attacks in the UK. Forces behind the violence stem not just from overseas extremist groups but also, among others, homegrown nationalism.

On June 3, three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and proceeded to stab people in nearby restaurants and bars. Eight people were killed and 50 others injured in the attacks. The three attackers - identified as Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba - were all shot dead by police.

On May 22, a large explosion was caused by British national Salman Abedi, who detonated a suicide bomb at the Manchester Arena, killing 22 and injuring 120. This was the most deadly terror incident in the UK since 2005.

Also in 2017, on March 22, 52-year-old British man Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people and injuring many others. Masood crashed his car into a railing outside Parliament, got out and ran into the grounds of the Palace of Westminster, where he stabbed a police officer to death. The attack was treated as an act of terrorism motivated by Islamic extremism.

On June 16, 2016, Labor MP Jo Cox was killed by Thomas Mair, a 52-year-old man who shouted "Britain first" during the attack, outside a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire. The Crown Prosecution Service described it as an act of terror. The judge, in his sentencing remarks, said Mair's violence was politically-motivated.

And, on December 5, 2015, a man with a knife attacked passengers at Leytonstone Tube Station in East London. The attacker was 29-year-old Muhaydin Mire who was shouting "this is for Syria". Three people were injured in the attack, one seriously. The attacker was found guilty of attempted murder in June 2016.