May the 22nd, 2017, and the Manchester Arena bomber Salman
Abedi has just detonated a homemade device,
killing 22 people attending an Ariana Grande concert.
It was the deadliest terror attack
in the UK's most deadly year since the 7/7
bombings in London in 2005.
One year on, the threat from Islamist inspired extremism
shows no signs of abating.
The terror threat level in the UK
remains severe, one step down from its highest
possible level, and security officials
say it could remain this way until 2020.
In the UK alone since the Westminster attack in March
last year, with the police we've thwarted a further 12
Islamist terror plots--
12 occasions where we have good reason
to believe a terrorist attack would otherwise
have taken place in our country.
MI5 and police are dealing with unprecedented numbers
of leads following last year's attacks in Manchester
and London.
There are 500 separate investigations
and 3,000 subjects of interest being actively watched.
The heightened state of vigilance
is also explained by the shifting nature of the threat.
As ISIS has surrendered its strongholds in Iraq and Syria,
so the threat from returning jihadists has also grown.
At the same time, online extremists
are inspiring would-be terrorists
remotely, encouraging and guiding
them to carry out low tech, lone wolf attacks which
are so difficult to detect.
In this climate, dropping your guard
is not an option for the security
services and the police.
We are highly effective at preventing attacks
in this country, but highly volatile people
who are intent on doing something absolutely terrible,
and in that act are quite happy, maybe even pleased,
to kill themselves.
And to use low tech methods, these
are difficult things to defend against.
For a city which prides itself on its diversity,
the events of last year are still a shock.
But for the UK as a whole there is no sign
that the wider threat will ease anytime soon.