Minister: We could bring in the Army

POLICE forces may have to work more closely with the Army under plans to thwart ‘pop-up’ terror cells. Defence chiefs are investigating how troops could give back-up to armed officers and how military helicopters could be used to move police around the country in the event of a Paris-style atrocity.

Special forces are already being prepared for urgent intervention against Islamic State fanatics, the Defence Secretary said yesterday

Michael Fallon added: ‘We are facing Islamic state in Syria and it is on the borders of Europe, it is becoming a very direct threat to Europe. We need to do something about it. I’m worried about the fight against IS, I’m worried about this spread of IS, this kind of pop-up IS, which can link up very easily.

‘The Home Secretary has been looking at how you can deploy sufficient numbers of armed officers in areas outside London.

‘And if they had an incident or two incidents or people fleeing from Manchester or London out to the countryside, do they really have enough armed officers to deal with that?’

He said that it was in those circumstances that the Army could be drafted in for large-scale operations, such as searching a forest or cordoning off a railway station.