Britain fights back in the information war

BRITAIN will launch a counter-propaganda war against the Russians and terrorists in an overhaul of security capabilities announced by Theresa May last night.

The Prime Minister has instructed the intelligence services to use social media to disrupt misinformation as she promised to use “every capability at our disposal” to defeat the new threat facing the country.

As well as increased Russian aggression, sources warned that the Islamist terror threat was likely to rise in the next two years as Mrs May announced a new effort to ensure every government agency and department makes national security a priority, rather than just the police and security services.

The plan, called the “Fusion Doctrine”, is intended to tackle the evolving threats posed by states such as Russia and North Korea, as well as terrorist groups including Isil which use cyber warfare and “fake news” as well as bombs to attack their enemies.

Yesterday, security experts warned that the Kremlin had pumped out more than 20 different stories so far to ex- plain the attack on Sergei Skripal, the former spy, in Salisbury to “confuse the picture and confuse the charge sheet”.

They said Britain’s soft-power capabilities and ability to counter propaganda online would form part of the new front line.

Meanwhile, the head of the RAF said Britain would soon be forced to defend itself in space, following claims that

have dropped for the first time in a decade.

The ONS said that “increased participation in higher education; increased female participation in the labour force, the increasing importance of a career, the rising opportunity costs of childbearing, labour market uncertainty and housing factors” were behind the shift.

Nicola Haines, of its vital statistics outputs branch, said: “Conception rates in England and Wales, for women aged under 18, declined by 8 per cent in 2015. Similar decreases were recorded for both maternities and abortions in this age group. Under-18 conception rates have declined by 55 per cent since 1998, whilst for women aged 30 and over conception rates have increased by 34 per cent.”

Some experts claim that teen pregnancy rates are dropping because young people are more likely to communicate remotely on social media, although a teenage pregnancy strategy, launched in 2000, has also been credited with the reduction.

The UK, however, still has one of the highest teenage birth rates in western Europe, with 6.4 live births to every 1,000 women aged 15 to 17 in 2015, compared with 4.1 in France, 3.6 in Germany, and 2.1 in Italy, according to FPA, the sexual health charity.

Natika H Halil, its chief executive, said: “We know [teenage pregnancy] can be reduced by investing the right time, resources and expertise into services and education. This investment saves money in the long term, but helps prevent the range of negative longterm educational, health and social outcomes that young parents and their children are more likely to experience.”