Protecting our national security, and keeping our people and interests safe – both here in the UK and overseas – is the primary duty of Government. The recent horrific attack in Nice was the latest terrible reminder that the threat from terrorism is more acute and more complex than ever before.
The Government recently published its annual report on its counter-terrorism strategy. It covers developments in the terrorist threat and progress made by Britain’s counter-terrorism work in 2015.
As we have seen in recent months in France and Brussels, terrorism represents a real and present threat to the UK and our interests. The threat from terrorism to the UK and our interests continues to be driven by the situation in Syria and Iraq, and, in particular, by Daesh (the self-styled Islamic State). Over the last year, attacks in Tunisia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also been attributed to them.
Daesh continues to use propaganda to encourage individuals from around the world to travel to the conflict area, including approximately 850 individuals from the UK.
The continued success of our counter-terrorism effort depends on a broad range of domestic and international activity. This includes the Prevent and intervention programmes here in the UK, through which work is done to safeguard people at risk and challenge those that support terrorism. The Government have made our borders and civil aviation more secure, and strengthened contingency plans for our responses to terrorist attacks.
The police and the intelligence agencies (including GCHQ, based near Cheltenham and employing many of my constituents) successfully disrupted six terrorist plots to attack Great Britain in 2015 due to their hard work and commitment to keep us safe. The work of our security services is, by its very nature, done quietly and in secret. It is important however to express our thanks to those that work to keep our country safe. We often only hear of the work of our security services when something goes wrong – given this, it’s worth remembering how much good work they do every day to keep us safe, and to express our gratitude to them for doing so.