UK terrorism threat level raised to SEVERE

Following yesterday’s incident in Liverpool, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) has today (15 November) taken the decision to raise the UK National Threat Level from SUBSTANTIAL, meaning an attack is likely, to SEVERE, meaning an attack is highly likely.

The decision has been driven by two terrorist incidents in the past month, reflecting the diverse, complex and volatile nature of the terrorist threat in the UK.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

Following yesterday’s shocking incident in Liverpool, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has raised the UK Threat Level to SEVERE.

It is important that the public remains alert to the threat from terrorism but not alarmed. I urge anyone with information or who suspects any suspicious activity to report it to the police.

Threat levels are determined independently of Ministers and are a tool for security practitioners, including the police, to use in determining what protective security response may be required.

The UK was last at SEVERE in November 2020 before being lowered to SUBSTANTIAL in February 2021.

You can find out more about how the threat levels are set, what they mean and when they have changed, by visiting the Security Service webpage.