Chemical attack on UK streets is getting closer, says security minister

THE threat of a chemical weapons attack on Britain’s streets is getting closer and “is real”, the security minister has warned.

Britain must face up to the possibility of a chemical or biological attack as terrorists relentlessly pursue new methods to commit murder, according to Ben Wallace.

In a stark assessment, the Home Office minister said he saw plots where “the only limits to the ambition of our adversaries is their imagination”.

Speaking at the National Security Summit in London, Mr Wallace warned that terrorists continue to explore new ways “to kill us on our streets”.

“Chemical and biological weapons are marching in closer,” he said. “They have developed and worked on a better arsenal and we have to be prepared that might come to our streets here.

“Be under no doubt the threat is real,” Mr Wallace said. “Our open, liberal and free societies are easy prey to those that fear little and care even less. The better characteristics of our safe, free, democratic society are used against us.”

Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer echoed Mr Wallace’s warning. Also speaking at the conference, Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, said: “These things have been used on the battlefield, and what’s used on the battlefield will eventually be adapted to be used on domestic soil.

“These are the kind of threats that we’ve got to take very seriously and we’ve got to make sure that we have the right preparations to actually counter that threat, should it appear.”

While the likelihood of terrorists successfully conducting a large-scale chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) strike is considered to be “unlikely”, Britain’s security apparatus is alive to the danger.

The Government’s national risk register of civil emergencies says: “Extremists remain interested in CBRN materials. However, alternative methods of attack, such as employing firearms or conventional explosive devices, remain far more likely.”

The impact of a chemical weapons incident was underlined by the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury earlier this year.

Last week, Uk-based experts unveiled a major drive to revolutionise the response to a CBRN emergency.

The research team has developed tools including technology to determine casualty exposure to poisons through rapid skin, breath and saliva tests and drone equipment to measure toxic fumes in the atmosphere.