The threat of terrorism has fallen so much that no one has even been injured by an Islamist attack in Britain for more than two years.
The declined risk was noted by independent reviewer David Anderson QC.
In his annual report published on Wednesday, he wrote: “Whatever its cause, the reduction of risk in relation to al-Qaida terrorism in the United Kingdom is real and has been sustained for several years now.”
However, he said there should be a rethink over the denying of bail to suspects arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000, introduced among a raft of the former Labour government’s tough anti-terror laws.
He said releasing some suspects would be “unthinkable” but not “peripheral players”.
The last terrorist attack in this country was in May 2012 when Labour MP Stephen Timms was stabbed in his constituency surgery by Roshonara Choudhry.
Prior to that was the July 7 attacks in London in 2005, and failed transport attacks of 21 July 2005. Plus, there was a foiled fertiliser bomb in 2007, and airline liquid bomb plots in September 2009, when three men planned to blow up flights between Britain and North America.
The situation had improved “markedly” since, and the number of convictions now are limited to a “handful”, Anderson said.
He wrote in the report: “During the 21st century, terrorism has been an insignificant cause of mortality in the United Kingdom. The annualised average of five deaths caused by terrorism in England and Wales over this period compares with total accidental deaths in 2010 of 17,201, including 123 cyclists killed in traffic accidents, 102 personnel killed in Afghanistan, 29 people drowned in the bathtub and five killed by stings from hornets, wasps and bees.”
However, he added terrorists would inflict more harm if permitted, so Brits should not be complacent.
