UK terror threat level lowered but attacks still ‘likely’

Reduction is ‘positive but must never make us complacent’, Priti Patel says

The threat level had been raised in November following the Liverpool Women’s Hospital bombing (PA Wire)

The UK’s terror threat level has been lowered but attacks are still likely, the security services have said.

The level was changed from severe, meaning attacks are highly likely, to substantial - meaning they are likely - on Wednesday.

It had been increased following the Liverpool Women’s Hospital bombing in November, which came just a month after the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess.

In a statement to parliament, home secretary Priti Patel said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) made the increase to severe in because there had been “two terrorist attacks in the UK in quick succession”.

“JTAC judges that, despite these two attacks, the current nature and scale of the UK terrorist threat is consistent with the level of threat seen prior to the attacks,” she added.

“The attacks in October and November 2021 reflect the complex, volatile, and unpredictable nature of the terrorist threat in the UK.

“Any reduction in the threat level is positive but it must never make us complacent. Terrorism remains one of the most direct and immediate risks to our national security.”

JTAC, which is led by MI5 but includes other agencies and government departments, sets the threat level based on available intelligence, terrorist capability and predicted timescales.

Fourteen attacks have been declared terrorist incidents in England since 2017, with 12 classified as Islamist and two far-right.

The security services say 32 plots have been foiled in the same period – 18 jihadist, 12 far-right and two from other ideologies.