Police officers stand on duty on Dorset Avenue in Moss Side following a raid on a residential property as investigations continue into the terror attack at the Manchester Arena. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Police officers stand on duty on Dorset Avenue in Moss Side following a raid on a residential property as investigations continue into the terror attack at the Manchester Arena. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has been speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about how authorities can deal with those suspected of having links to extremism.
He says it was a “grave mistake for coalition government to remove control orders”. In 2011, then home secretary Theresa May announced control orders would be replaced by less restrictive terrorism prevention and investigation measures (TPims).
TPims are, Carlile says this morning, “better than nothing”, but he argues the country “would be a safer place” if control orders were reintroduced:
There was a political resistance to imposing these orders on people who were reasonably suspected of being terrorists.
He says TPims are rarely applied but notes:
The use of TPims has increased since the 2015 election from about zero to seven today.
He says he suspects the current home secretary, Amber Rudd, would favour greater use of TPims. But Carlile rejects the idea floated by Jeremy Corbyn and others that cuts in policing numbers have undermined intelligence-gathering:
It’s very easy to say we need more police … I do not believe the number of police officers is the central issue.
Here is the statement from Greater Manchester police about its latest search:
We are currently carrying out a search at an address at a property in Moss Side in connection with the attack on the Manchester Arena on Monday. The search is being carried out at a separate property to the address where a man was arrested earlier this morning (Friday 26 May 2017).
As it stands, 10 people in total have been arrested in connection with the investigation, of which a man and a woman have since been released without charge.
A total of 10 arrests have been made in connection with the attack on Manchester Arena; two of those detained have been released.
Here is what we know about the arrests and most recent raids:
Police arrested a man in Manchester’s Moss Side in the early hours of Friday in connection with the attack on Manchester Arena.
Eight men are in custody. One of them is believed to be Ismail Abedi, 23, the brother of the bomber, Salman Abedi.
A man and a woman arrested earlier in the investigation have been released without charge.
Police raids in the south of the city on Thursday uncovered suspicious materials similar to those used in the bombing that killed 22 people. Bomb disposal experts were brought in to search a house in Wigan on Thursday evening.
Officers have warned that accomplices may still be at large and bomb-making equipment could be as yet undiscovered.
Manchester’s Great City Games will go ahead in the city centre today.
Authorities took the decision to let the event go ahead in the wake of the terror attack on Monday. It will take place in a temporary arena in Albert Square, the site of Tuesday’s vigil for those killed and injured.
The former Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford, who will take part in the games, said it was an important symbol of resilience:
After such a tragic and heinous event, I think it’s important that everybody comes together and shows it’s not going to stop people leading a normal life.
That seems to be the overriding sense from everybody here. I think it’s wonderful that it’s still going ahead and I hope it will be a lovely tribute to those who lost their lives and those injured in the attack.
The UK government’s emergency Cobra committee will meet again this morning in Whitehall. The home secretary, Amber Rudd, will chair the meeting, as Theresa May is attending the G7 summit in Sicily.
British police have resumed sharing information with their counterparts in the US after a brief suspension over a series of leaks by American officials to journalists providing details of the Manchester bomb investigation.
The suspension, announced early on Thursday morning, lasted less than 24 hours. It was primarily intended to send a message to US law enforcement agencies registering anger at the casual way in which sensitive information was disclosed to American journalists.
Mark Rowley, the UK’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, confirmed that they had “received fresh assurances” from the US and were now working closely with them again.
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, has denied that cuts in police forces contributed to Monday’s terror atrocity in Manchester, Press Association reports:
Rudd was confronted on BBC1’s Question Time on Thursday night by a member of the studio audience who said Theresa May had been warned by the Police Federation that cuts in frontline officers would undermine their ability to gather low-level intelligence about possible threats. Rudd insisted that the majority of such intelligence came from community leaders operating within the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, rather than from police officers on the street.
The audience member said:
We are 20,000 police officers down and we get atrocities like this. Does the government not expect this?
Rudd responded:
I don’t accept that. I have asked the head of counter-terrorism whether this is about resources. It is not.
There may a conversation to have about policing, we may have that at some stage. But now is not that conversation. We must not imply that this terrorist activity may not have taken place if there had been more policing.
Good counter-terrorism is when you have close relationships between the policing and intelligence services. That is what we have. That is why the UK has a strong counter-terrorism network. It’s also about making sure we get in early on radicalisation. But it’s not about those pure numbers on the street.
Greater Manchester police says it is undertaking searches of a home in St Helens:
This morning (Friday 26 May 2017) we have been carrying out searches at an address in the St Helens area of Merseyside. The arrest is connected to Monday’s attack on the Manchester Arena, but this is a fast-moving investigation and we are keeping an open mind at this stage.
As it stands, 10 people in total have been arrested in connection with the investigation, of which a man and a woman have since been released without charge.
Police arrested a man in Manchester’s Moss Side in the early hours of Friday in connection with the attack on Manchester Arena.
Eight men are now in custody. One of them is believed to be Ismail Abedi, 23, the brother of the bomber, Salman Abedi.
A man and a woman arrested earlier in the investigation have been released without charge.
Police raids in the south of the city on Thursday uncovered suspicious materials similar to those used in the bombing that killed 22 people. Bomb disposal experts were brought in to search a house in Wigan on Thursday evening.
Officers have warned that accomplices may still be at large and bomb-making equipment could be as yet undiscovered.
UK officials have begun sharing intelligence with US counterparts again, after reassurances were made following a series of leaks to American media.
The threat level remains at “critical”, with troops continuing to guard key locations and armed police for the first time patrolling trains outside the capital.
The perpetrator
Abedi is believed to have returned to the UK from Libya only days before Monday’s attack. He travelled via Istanbul last Thursday, and Düsseldorf.
Republican congressman Mike McCaul, chair of the homeland security committee, said Abedi had used triacetone triperoxide (TATP), the explosive used in the 7/7 attacks on London, as well as the Paris and Brussels attacks.
A minute’s silence in St Ann’s Square, Manchester, to remember the victims of the terror attack. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
The victims
All 22 people killed in the attack have now been named. You can read about them here.
Of the 116 people taken to eight hospitals in the wake of the attack, 75 are still being treated, of whom 23 remain in critical care, some with “life-changing injuries”. This includes five children at the Royal Manchester children’s hospital, which was visited by the Queen on Thursday.
NHS England has sent an alert to England’s 27 major trauma centres to prepare for a possible further incident over the bank holiday weekend.
Election campaign resumes
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, has denied that government cuts to police numbers contributed to the attack.
Rudd will chair this morning’s meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee, as Theresa May attends the G7 summit in Sicily.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will today make a speech drawing a link between Britain’s foreign policy and terror attack. But he will add:
That assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children. Those terrorists will forever be reviled and held to account for their actions. But an informed understanding of the causes of terrorism is an essential part of an effective response that will protect the security of our people that fights rather than fuels terrorism.
