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The UK’s terrorism threat level has been downgraded from “severe” to “substantial”, the Home Office says.
But, Home Secretary, Priti Patel said that the UK was still at “a high level of threat” and an attack could “occur without further warning”.
The terrorism threat is now at its lowest since August 2014. Substantial is the third of five ratings at which the threat level can stand.
The separate terrorism threat level for Northern Ireland remains “severe”.
Ms Patel said in a statement on Monday that terrorism remained a “direct and immediate” risk to the UK’s national security.
Assessments determining the country’s threat level are taken by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) – part of MI5 – which makes its recommendations independently from the government.
There was a surge in terror attacks in 2017, including in London Bridge where eight people were killed
“Government, police and intelligence agencies will continue to work tirelessly to address the threat posed by terrorism in all its forms,” Ms Patel said.
The threat level is kept under “constant review”, she added.
Neil Basu, head of counter terrorism policing, said there had been “positive developments” in the fight against terrorism but it was “vital that we all maintain a high level of vigilance”.
He said the UK’s counter terrorism policing team had about 800 live counter terrorism investigations – while 24 attack plots had been thwarted since the Westminster attack in March 2017.
This is a significant change in the only official public measure of the threat posed by terrorism to the UK – but it’s not a sign that there are suddenly fewer people with aspirations to do us harm.
