UK Terror Threat Level Reduced From ‘Severe’ to ‘Substantial’

Armed police officers stand guard by a member of the Household cavalry on Whitehall, in London, on Nov. 5, 2020. Hollie Adams /AFP via Getty Images

The UK’s terrorism threat level has been reduced from “severe” to “substantial,” Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Wednesday.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Patel said security experts at the independent Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) had made the decision on the basis of the latest intelligence available.

The “substantial” rating means a terrorist attack in the UK is likely. It is the third-highest—below “critical” and “severe” but above “low” and “moderate”—in the system used in the UK to assess the terrorism threat.

The threat level was increased to “severe,” which means an attack is highly likely, in November 2021 following the explosion outside a Liverpool hospital on Remembrance Sunday and the fatal stabbing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess in Essex on Oct. 15.

Two days after an explosion killed suspected terrorist Emad Al Swealmeen and injured his taxi driver, forensic officers were seen at the scene outside Liverpool Women's Hospital on Nov. 16, 2021. Peter Byrne/PA

Patel said, “JTAC judges that, despite these two attacks, the current nature and scale of the UK terrorist threat is consistent with the level of threat seen prior to the attacks.”

She said the lowering of the threat level was positive but people should not be complacent.

“The attacks in October and November 2021 reflect the complex, volatile, and unpredictable nature of the terrorist threat in the UK,” she told members of Parliament.

“Terrorism remains one of the most direct and immediate risks to our national security. The public should remain alert, but not alarmed, and report any concerns they may have to the police.”

The threat level was increased a day after a bomb blast outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Nov. 14, 2021, which killed the bomber Emad Al Swealmeen.

A coroner said in December that Iraq-born Al Swealmeen “manufactured the improvised explosive device, designed to project shrapnel, with murderous intent.”

The inquest heard that he turned his flat into a “bomb-making factory” and purchased materials likely to be used in the manufacture of improvised firearms or home-made explosives, including 2,000 ball bearings.

Flowers left in memory of Sir David Amess outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London, on Oct. 22, 2021. Dominic Lipinski/PA

A month earlier, on Oct. 15, Amess, a 69-year-old father of five, was brutally attacked when meeting constituents in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and later died of multiple stab wounds to the chest.

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, a British national of Somali descent, was charged on Oct. 21 with the murder of Amess and “the preparation of terrorist acts.”

PA Media contributed to this report.