Security services have ‘raised the bar’ since Westminster

Speaking to the Independent, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu has said that security services have ‘raised the bar’ since the terrorist attacks of 2017.

Basu, who took over the top counter terrorism role from Mark Rowley this month, said the UK was a ‘less hostile place for terrorists’ in 2017, but expressed optimism about how security services have improved and the nation’s response to terrorism has adapted since the Westminster attack a year ago.

Basu said police had worked hard to ‘break the momentum’ of attacks, sparking successful efforts to disrupt fresh plots in the latter part of 2017. Reports estimate that 14 plots were stopped by counter terror policing last year.

Five members of the public, including PC Keith Palmer, were killed as a car struck down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge on 22 March 2017, before Khalid Masood entered Parliament Square ad stabbed Palmer as he was on duty.

The assault was followed by the Manchester bombing on 22 May and the London Bridge attack on 3 June, both claimed by Isis, and the far-right Finsbury Park attack on 19 June. The attacks killed a total of 36 victims.