Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Increase in UK’s terrorism threat level to ‘severe’

Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The UK’s terrorism threat level has been raised after two attacks in the space of a month.

It is now listed as “severe”, which means an attack is “highly likely”.

The threat level had been lowered to “substantial” in February, meaning an attack is “likely”, after being raised to severe in November last year.

The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and MI5 are responsible for setting the international and domestic threat levels respectively, taking into account available intelligence, terrorist intentions and capability as well as potential timescales for attacks.

Speaking to broadcasters, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, Jtac, are now increasing the United Kingdom’s threat level from substantial to severe.

“And there’s a reason for that, and that reason is because what we saw yesterday is the second incident in a month.”

The car explosion outside a Liverpool hospital on Remembrance Sunday has been declared a terrorist attack by police.

It comes after Conservative MP for Southend West Sir David Amess died during a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex on October 15.

Alleged terrorist Ali Harbi Ali, 25, is accused of murdering the MP and has also been charged with preparing acts of terrorism between May 1 2019 and September 28 this year.

Following the Home Secretary’s announcement, Police Scotland’s assistant chief constable, Mark Williams said: “This afternoon the Home Secretary announced an increase in the UK’s Terrorist Threat Level from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is now deemed to be highly likely.

“The decision has been made following two recent incidents declared as terrorism – the murder of Sir David Amess MP in October and the incident we saw take place in Liverpool yesterday.

“While the terrorist threat in the UK is diverse, volatile and complex, I would stress at this time there is nothing to suggest there is any specific threat to Scotland.

“I do want to take this opportunity to remind the public not to be alarmed, but to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to Police Scotland.”

Ms Patel said the “context” of there being two terrorist incidents in the space of a month was “really important” and while she could not expand “for obvious reasons”, she added: “I should just conclude my remarks by saying that our security and intelligence services prevent all sorts of acts, day in, day out.

“And of course, they understand the landscape, they see context, they see all sorts of things that keep our country safe and secure every single day and that work will continue.”

Official sources told the PA news agency the decision to raise the terror threat level should not be taken as an indication of any further specific live threat.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, one of Counter Terrorism Policing’s senior national co-ordinators, said the change was a “precautionary measure and not based on any specific threat”, adding that the public “should not be alarmed by this change”.

While there was “absolutely nothing to suggest any link” between the two attacks, the fact they occurred in “relatively quick succession” will have “contributed to the intelligence picture that is continually being assessed”, he said.

Counter-terror police previously warned of the dangers of more people potentially becoming radicalised during the coronavirus lockdowns while spending more time online.

Although officers in charge of this probe have so far said the motive behind the attack is unclear.