British MPs face a significant danger of being the target of terrorist attacks. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said on Wednesday. However, she added that the intelligence services had no information about any specific and immediate threat, Reuters reported.
“I must update the House that the threat level facing members of parliament is now deemed to be substantial,” she said.
Sky News explained that the threat to MPs is at the same level as the current national threat to the UK as a whole. Previously, the threat against MPs was deemed to be “moderate,” meaning an attack was “possible but not likely.”
The minister’s announcement came just days after British MP David Amess was killed. After Amess’s assassination, British politicians began to confide that they had repeatedly received death threats in the past.
The event also sparked a debate on how to improve the protection of politicians. The security of legislators on the premises of the parliament is ensured by armed police, but this does not apply, for example, when politicians meet with voters in other places or in their constituencies.
