Reports that the UK’s terrorism threat level has been raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ have been refuted by the Metropolitan Police this morning.
Security was reportedly increased around rail and air transport amid fears of a terror attack. Home Office officials, however, stress that there is no intelligence around any plot and we should keep calm and carry on, a message which clearly hasn’t reached the offices of The Sun judging by their ‘Rail Terror Fear’ headline. According to a slightly calmer Reuters, a Met spokesman said: ‘We never discuss security. We never say it’s been stepped up or stepped down so I really don't know where this has come from.’
Despite such reassurances, the threat is being connected to activity and ‘chatter’ from an extremist cell, while links are also being drawn between the three men recently arrested in Denmark for allegedly planning a machine-gun raid on the offices of a Danish newspaper, and British terror suspects.
The Home Office advise the public to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to police, so perhaps we’d better brush up on our terrorist-spotting skills or hope we meet a helpful one.
