Amber Rudd has announced a review of how the authorities dealt with recent terror attacks in the UK.
The Home Secretary said former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation David Anderson will lead the review, which will see if “lessons can be learned”.
Her announcement follows terror attacks in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park.
Tributes left in St Ann’s Square in Manchester (Danny Lawson/PA)
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Rudd reiterated more must be done to tackle the extremists who seek to “radicalise and weaponise” young people in Britain.
She said: “Doing more also means asking difficult questions about what has gone wrong. In light of the terror attacks in London and Manchester, Britain’s counter-terror strategy will be reviewed to make sure the police and the security services have what they need to keep us safe.
“In addition to this, there will be a review of the handling of recent terror attacks to look at whether lessons can be learned about our approach. I’m pleased to announce that David Anderson, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, will be overseeing it.”
A woman with a young child looks at floral tributes at the southern end of London Bridge (Matt Dunham/AP)
Ms Rudd earlier said the four attacks had seen “36 innocent people dead and over 150 hospitalised”, adding: “A tragic loss of innocent life.”
She told the Commons a “new phase of global terrorism” is beginning, noting: “We now believe we’re experiencing a new trend in the threat we face”, with 13 plots linked to or inspired by Islamist extremists being foiled between June 2013 and the Westminster Bridge attack in March this year.
Ms Rudd added that five plots have been prevented since March, with three Islamist plots succeeding – while the Finsbury Park attack has also taken place in which a van driver targeted an area busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at the nearby mosque. Ms Rudd said the Government wants to set up a Commission for Countering Extremism.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott responds to the statement by Home Secretary Amber Rudd (PA)
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said ministers should focus on boosting police resources over creating more laws, adding: “Cuts have consequences.”
Ms Abbott pressed the Home Secretary to commit to halting cuts to policing budgets and asked whether “austerity still applies to our safety”.
Quoting a letter outlining concerns from the UK’s top counter-terrorism officer over resources, she said: “What (Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner) Mark Rowley is saying is that cuts have consequences and your cuts run the risk of putting us all in danger. Our understanding on this side is you are going to cut again.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel