UK lowers terror threat level

BRITAIN'S intelligence services have lowered the level of threat to Britain for the first time since the London suicide bomb attacks.

The official threat level has been secretly reduced from "critical", the highest rating, to "severe general" because there is no specific information relating to imminent attacks.

The move, made by the Joint Terror Analysis Centre ( JTAC), was taken on Thursday, despite a warning from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair that further attacks are "likely".

Although the "threat" level has been lowered, the "alert" level remains at its highest rating. The level of alert determines how buildings and transport systems are guarded in the UK.

The Home Office last night would only confirm that the "level of preparedness" had not been altered.

Opposition politicians criticised the decision to downgrade the threat levels in secret. Patrick Mercer, the shadow minister for homeland security, said: "Why has this information not been relayed to the public?

"The Metropolitan Police have been loud in their comments about their most powerful weapon against terrorism being the public. However, the public is not told when decisions relating to changes in threat levels are made."

Last month, following the July 7 attacks which left 52 commuters dead, it emerged that just three weeks before the London bombings JTAC had concluded there was no group with the intent or capacity to attack the UK. The assessment prompted the government to lower the national threat level from "severe defined" to "substantial".

A Home Office spokesman said that there had been "no change in our level of preparedness".

He added: "Although there is no specific intelligence of a terrorist attack, the threat to the UK remains real and serious - as we also said before the London bombings. We cannot rule out the possibility of further attacks."

Copyright 2005 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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