ONLY a third of arrests made under the government’s draconian anti-terror laws have led to charges being brought, according to government figures released yesterday.

In the year to March, 299 people were detained for terrorism-related offences, an increase of 31 per cent compared to the previous year, Home Office figures revealed.

It is the highest number since officials began collecting data in September 2001 and higher than the previous peak of 284, which was recorded in 2005, the year of the July 7 bombings.

Yet of the 299 people arrested only 100 were ultimately charged with terror-related offences.

A number of those who subsequently had the charges against them dropped were eventually convicted of non-terror offences or acquitted.

Officials said there has been a “marked increase” in the number of people arrested who regard themselves as British or with dual nationality.

In 2014/15, this accounted for more than three-quarters of those detained for terrorism-related offences, compared with 52 per cent in the year to March 2011.

The figures also showed that the number of 18 to 20-year-olds arrested more than doubled compared to last year, from 20 to 43.

Thirty-five women were arrested on suspicion of terror offences, after the number more than trebled in five years.

The government put down the record arrests to police and security services mounting an unprecedented response to the threat posed by Islamic State.