Al Qaeda 'will exploit police anti-terror budget cuts'
BRITAIN will be more open to a July 7 atrocity or a Mumbai-style attack if £150 million is slashed from the police anti-terror budget, it was claimed yesterday.
Protection of VIPs could also be affected. These stark warnings came after Britain’s most senior anti-terror officer said “eye-watering” cuts of 25 per cent would be exploited by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in the UK.
Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner John Yates, speaking at a secret session of a chief constables conference only days before the fifth anniversary of the July 7 bomb attacks in London, said the Metropolitan Police would have £87 million clawed back from the anti-terror budget.
Specialist counter-terrorism units nationwide could be required to save up to £62 million. Cuts on that scale could not be achieved without a “rising burden of risk”.
Mr Yates said protecting the 2012 London Olympic Games remained a priority yet it was a costly one. But he was publicly rebuked by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude. He said public servants should not indulge in “shroud waving” and should be concentrating on getting costs down rather than “alarming the public”.
Counter-terror chiefs are haunted by the vision of gun attacks like those carried out in Mumbai in November, 2008, when fanatics killed 174 people in the streets of the Indian city.
They also fear a return of suicide bombers to British streets. In July 7, 2005, 52 innocent people died when four killers blew themselves up on the London transport network.
Since July 7, the Yard and MI5 say they have thwarted dozens of plots. But budget cuts could undermine counter-terrorist measures, including a cut in surveillance teams monitoring suspects as well as other specialists.
After Mr Yates’ speech to the Association of Chief Police Officers in Manchester, his predecessor Andy Hayman said: “We should be preparing for when the next attack happens – not if.
“It is essential we prepare for every eventuality, from a dirty bomb to a Mumbai-type attack. Fewer officers means less coverage of dangerous terrorists.”