Christmas terrorist attack is 'highly likely' says Reid

THE terrorist threat facing the UK is "very high indeed", John Reid, the Home Secretary, said yesterday.

He said an attempted attack over the Christmas period was "highly likely".

"We ought to be very grateful to the people in the security services who work night and day to try to protect us.

"We can never guarantee that we will get 100 per cent success, but we do get 100 per cent effort from the security services."

Mr Reid said the current UK terror assessment was "severe" - the second highest level. He did not think an attack was "inevitable", but he went on: "The terrorists only have to get through once, as they did on 7 July, for us to see the terrible carnage it causes. Our security services have to be successful on every occasion to prevent that happening.

"I try to walk the tightrope between being truthful and honest about the threat to the public but, on the other hand, to say we are doing everything possible to combat it and to try to keep our lifestyle as near as possible to the British way of life."

Mr Reid said the battle with terrorism would continue for "longer than a generation". The struggle against Irish republican terrorism had lasted 30 years, and he didn't think this would be resolved any quicker.