Terror threat faced by Britain from NI now ‘moderate’

MI5 has downgraded the official threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Great Britain.

The agency lowered the assessment from substantial to moderate, which means security officials assess an attack as “possible but not likely”.

In a written statement to Parliament, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: “Despite the change which has been made today, there remains a real and serious threat against the United Kingdom from terrorism and I would ask the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to the police regardless of the threat level.

“The decision to change this threat level is taken by the Security Service independently of ministers and is based on the very latest intelligence, considering factors such as capability, intent and timescale.

“Threat levels are kept under constant review.”

There are five threat levels — low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical.

They are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack and are set on a range of factors including intelligence, terrorist capability, and timescale, in order to determine the security response.

The threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Great Britain was raised from moderate to substantial in May 2016, in a move then Home Secretary Theresa May said “reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity”.

The threat level to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism remains at severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely”.

The latest assessment of the threat to the UK from international terrorism is also unchanged at severe.

Last month, Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH), which at one point tried to blow up the Co Downbased headquarters of MI5, said it is ending its campaign of violence because the environment is not right for armed conflict.

The group was also behind the attempted murder of Catholic police officer Peadar Heffron in January 2010.