Britain must respond to Russia threat

THE disclosure last week at PMQs by Theresa May of the precise movements of the alleged Russian killers in relation to the attempted murder of the Skripals in Salisbury and the subsequent death of Dawn Sturgess was not only revealing, but a tribute to the superb detective work of our police and counter-espionage services.

Perhaps these events will persuade Government to have another think about the staffing levels of both police and security services, for it is obvious that Russia has no intention of playing by accepted international rules of behaviour.

This means that every nation must review its security policies, particularly at ports of entry.

Numbers in the constabularies have been slashed by some 20,000 over the course of the past eight years, and contrary to Home Office statements, computers cannot take over the work of human beings in the field of complex crime detection.

Sadly, there is little likelihood of Russia altering its methods with the present regime in power.

This was displayed by the annexation of the Crimea plus part of the Ukraine, international law being ignored.

The populations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are somewhat nervous of their powerful neighbour and this is understandable.

Should there be no agreement on Brexit, the pressure on our border control will be immense.

As it is, more money will have to be ploughed into the vetting of all visitors from non-Euro countries to try and ensure that undesirable potential entrants are returned from whence they came.

The deadly chemical, and the way in which it was used, means that Novichok will become the prized weapon of every murdering gangster throughout the world, for it is very small, light, and can be easily camouflaged.

The world is becoming more dangerous by the week, yet we as a nation have to respond, not only with hard cash to pay for more bodies, but with costly, additional, intense and specialised training. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm AE Harris