WHILE Theresa May sent the army on to the streets of Britain yesterday, Scotland’s top cop refused to allow squaddies into our city centres, insisting his force had “sufficient resources” to deal with the current terror threat level.
The only extra soldiers north of the Border will be deployed to stand guard at Ministry of Defence bases and civil nuclear sites.
Nicola Sturgeon gave her support to Chief Constable Phil Gormley, and stressed again to MSPs that while there was “no specific threat to Scotland” everyone should be vigilant.
The First Minister had chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience committee in the early hours of yesterday morning, after the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre had hiked the UK’s terror threat level to “critical”, its highest possible setting.
Updating MSPs yesterday, Sturgeon said this change would see an increase in armed police officers, and a review of security for major events happening this weekend, including the Scottish Cup Final, the Edinburgh Marathon festival, and a charity dinner with Barack Obama,.
Around 984 soldiers were deployed throughout the UK yesterday, predominantly patrolling in London, with security around Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Downing Street ramped up.
Up to 4000 troops have been made available to chief constables as part of Operation Temperer.
While the Prime Minister suggested the army could be on patrol at concerts and sports matches in England and Wales, the First Minister said she thought it unlikely there would need to be soldiers on the streets of Scotland.
She told MSPs: “What this means in Scotland is that military personnel will be used at civil nuclear and Ministry of Defence sites.
“There are a total of 12 such sites in Scotland, nine Ministry of Defence and three civil nuclear sites.
“These sites, which are not accessible to the general public, will be secured by the military as of today.
“The presence of military personnel at sites of this nature both in Scotland and across the UK will free up the armed police who are normally on duty there and these armed police will create a contingency resource which can be deployed across the UK.”
STURGEON said any decision to use that resource north of the border would be taken by Police Scotland, but that the force has around 600 trained firearms officers and the number of armed response vehicles on patrol had been doubled since the Manchester attack.
There would, she said, be more armed police on streets than usual, particularly at transport hubs and city centres.
She added: “We do not currently envisage that military personnel will be deployed on the streets in Scotland or in other public locations.
“However, as with all operational matters, this will be kept under review by the Chief Constable.”
Sturgeon said the appearance of more armed police on the streets was in response to “a specific response to the increased threat level” and should not be seen as “a more general or long-term shift in Scotland to having armed police on regular patrol”.
Guidance has been issued to organisers of large events across the country and while additional safety measures would be in place, the aim was to “allow public events to continue as far as possible as normal”.
The First Minister said: “This is clearly a very anxious time but there is no need to be alarmed.
“Many of the steps that are being taken now are precautionary and I repeat there is no intelligence of a specific threat to Scotland.
“However, I do ask the public to be vigilant and to report any concerns or suspicions that they may have to the police.”
The Hydro, Armadillo and SEC Centre in Glasgow announced that body searches, extra ticket checks and restrictions on bags will be in place at venues.
Events in Glasgow over the next few days include an anniversary concert for Celtic’s Lisbon Lions featuring Rod Stewart, The Beach Boys, Kiss, comedian Micky Flanagan and the Ideal Home Show.
The Caird Hall in Dundee has issued similar advice.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has blasted colleagues in the American security services, after a series of leaks to US media.
In unusually strong language for a British politician, Rudd suggested the leaks had hampered the investigation into the blast: “The British police have been very clear that they want to control flow of information in order to protect operational integrity — the element of surprise — so it is irritating if it is released by other sources, and I have been very clear with our friends that it should not happen again.”
ASKED if she believed American officials compromised the investigation, Rudd said: “I wouldn’t go that far, but I can say they are perfectly clear that it will not happen again.”
American media were publicly sharing details of the bomber, type of attack, and death toll far in advance of their British counterparts.
Rudd’s comments come after reports that President Donald Trump shared highly classified information from the Israelis with Russian officials earlier this month, though his staff have denied this.
While the terror threat has been ratcheted up throughout the UK after the Manchester attack, with poor timing the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has announced that more than 200 policing posts are to go in the region.
George Hamilton, the PSNI boss, said the jobs were being axed because of a £20 million cut to the PSNI budget.
Responding to the announcement, the chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Mark Lindsay, said the cuts were “unacceptable and dangerous”. He said: “This is a frightening prospect. A cut in the size of PSNI strength means dire consequences for levels of service the public has a right to expect.
“Station closures, slower response times, low or no visibility on the streets, and all the time we face a terrorist threat rated ‘severe’ and a UK threat raised to ‘critical’ after the appalling Manchester attack.
“We’ve been warning that this £20m cut was heading our way and that it would impact very badly. The chief constable is right to set out the challenges, but what he hasn’t told us is how he’s going to cut the frontline workforce.
‘‘Whatever method is chosen, the fact remains that proposals of this magnitude are unacceptable and dangerous.’’
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel