United response is needed to terrorist attacks

A thorough security review should include ridding the internet of ‘safe places’ for militants, tighter surveillance and the use of powers of detention

Across the UK millions of people have been horrified by the latest terrorist atrocity that has left seven dead and 48 injured, 21 of these in a critical condition.

It is not only the ferocity of the attack, with victims stabbed over and over again as they lay defenceless. It is the random nature of the slaughter – pubs and restaurants in the heart of a capital city where people were enjoying a peaceful evening with friends.

In the initial reaction to this latest attack, the appalling pictures of the victims, and the massive presence of armed police within minutes, we have struggled to comprehend the rationale of this attack, still less to unite on a solution.

For this outrage is no singular, oneoff event, an isolated incident that compels our grief before we carry on just as before. It comes barely a fortnight after the terrorist massacre of children and young people at a pop concert in Manchester and is the third terrorist attack in the UK in three months.

Few can be in any doubt that simply carrying on as before is not an option. These atrocities cannot but have a profound effect on everyday life, through strict security controls at public events, far more visible armed police on the streets and notably enhanced surveillance by the intelligence services and security agencies.

This is not the country we were, and everyday life cannot be as it was. Today there is an overwhelming desire to stand united and defiant. And we would like nothing more than to demonstrate that by carrying on as much we did.

But this cannot blind us to the fact that a compelling change is now upon us. The mantra that “we should not let terrorism affect our everyday life” now seems vacuous in the wake of these latest outrages.

It is right that this terrorist violence should not be allowed to disrupt the democratic process, and that the general election should go ahead as planned.

But it is also right, as Prime Minister Theresa May declared yesterday, that “things need to change” in the way that extremism and terrorism are tackled.

She did not specify what particular changes and security measures now need to be taken. These should await a thoroughgoing review and analysis by the police, security forces, government and civil agencies. Such measures need to be considered with care, and with an eye to their enforceability.

But areas that should be high on the agenda should include ridding the internet of “safe places” for terrorist communication, tighter surveillance of those already on police watch lists, together with known militants and apologists and, where there is cause for particular concern, the use of powers of detention.

The perpetrators are known to be Islamic militants. But the vast majority of UK Muslims hold no sympathy for these views and are equally appalled by these acts of terrorism.

For this reason, care needs to be taken to ensure that the police and the public move together, and to ensure that innocent Muslims are not stigmatised.

To ensure as far as possible that future such attacks are avoided, the need for enhanced security measures should be understood, accepted and supported by as many as possible, and from whatever ethnic or religious background.