Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain faces a new threat and that terrorism has changed in light of the Southport attack last summer.
Speaking the day after Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana admitted murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, the prime minister said the incident “is a sign Britain now faces a new threat”.
“Terrorism has changed,” he told a news conference in Downing Street.
“In the past, the predominant threat was highly organised groups with clear political intent. Groups like Al-Qaeda. That threat, of course, remains.
“But now, alongside that, we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but fixated on that extreme violence seeming only for its own sake.”
On Monday, Rudakubana unexpectedly pleaded guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, on 29 July last year on what was due to be the first day of his trial.
After his guilty plea, it emerged Rudakubana was referred to the Prevent scheme three times in the 17 months before the attack over concerns about his fixation with violence, but on each occasion a judgement was made that he did not require intervention.
Sir Keir said those decisions were “clearly wrong” and “failed” the families of the victims.
When addressing the question of whether the attack was terrorism, the prime minister said the “blunt truth” was that Britain faces “a new threat” and that “terrorism has changed”.
“We also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but fixated on that extreme violence seeming only for its own sake.”
The government will review the country’s “entire counter terrorism system”, the prime minister added.
Sir Keir said attackers are “becoming harder to spot” and the UK cannot have a system that fails to tackle people who are a danger to others.
“If the law needs to change to recognise this new and dangerous threat, then we will change it, and quickly.”
He says that children need to be protected from the “tidal wave” of violence available online.
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3:57
Southport murderer – what you need to know
Anyone referred to the Prevent scheme is assessed and if deemed a terrorism risk referred to another programme, Channel, although many referrals don’t result in any further police action.
Rudakubana admitted yesterday to 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a kitchen knife during the attack in the Merseyside town.
A week before the attack, Rudakubana, then 17, booked a taxi to take him to Range High School in Formby, but his father stopped him from leaving, it is understood.
The teenager, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, was expelled from the school in about 2019 over claims he was carrying a knife after telling Childline he was being racially bullied and brought the knife to protect himself.
It is understood that, after his exclusion, he returned to the school to target a former bully or someone he had a grievance with and assaulted someone with a hockey stick.
Rudakubana then attended two specialist schools, where teachers were concerned about his behaviour.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Newcastle United have won their first domestic trophy in 70 years after beating Liverpool 2-1 in the Carabao Cup.
Tens of thousands of Magpies fans flooded the capital to watch their team end their drought against last year’s winners at Wembley.
TV presenters Declan Donnelly and Ant McPartlin were among fans rejoicing in the stands, while celebrations erupted across Newcastle.
The club lifted the European Inter-City Fairs Cup in 1969 but haven’t won a domestic trophy since their 1955 FA Cup victory.
Image: Newcastle win Carabao Cup. Pic: PA
Image: TV presenters Declan Donnelly and Ant McPartlin celebrate in the stands. Pic: Reuters
Image: Fans celebrate in a pub in Newcastle. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool, who have won 38 major trophies since the Black and Whites last got their hands on any silverware, went into the match as heavy favourites.
The last time the teams met, in the league last month, Liverpool eased to a 2-0 win – and they sit comfortably top of the Premier League table, seemingly headed for the title.
But Newcastle had the best of the first half and got their reward as local hero Dan Burn headed home from a corner just before half time, sending supporters into dreamland.
They found the back of the net again early in the second half, but the celebrations were cut short as the goal was disallowed for offside.
Image: Dan Burn (left) and Fabian Schar celebrate winning the Carabao Cup. Pic: PA
Minutes later, Alexander Isak struck and this time it did count, doubling Newcastle’s lead and sending the Geordie faithful in the crowd wild once more.
Liverpool gave themselves a lifeline in stoppage time with a goal from Federico Chiesa – after a tense VAR check – but Newcastle held on to secure the win.
Image: Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe celebrates. Pic: PA
Image: Bruno Guimaraes (left) and Anthony Gordon celebrate. Pic: PA
‘For them it’s like the World Cup’
Eddie Howe, who became the first English manager to win a domestic trophy since Harry Redknapp in 2008 in front of a crowd of 88,513, told Sky Sports he was “very emotional”.
“We just knew what was at stake today for all the people here, all the people back in Newcastle and we just wanted to do them proud,” he said.
“We were desperate to try and win the trophy after all the years of hurt. I’m so pleased not just with the result, but with the performance. I thought we deserved the win today.”
Bruno Guimaraes described his side’s win as “one of the best days” of his life, telling Sky Sports: “It’s a lot for these fans, they deserve everything.”
“For them this is like the World Cup. People have not seen Newcastle as champions. We are here to make history and I’m very happy. We deserve this, this is unbelievable.”
Liverpool’s League Cup loss comes just days after the Premier League leaders were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris St Germain (PSG) on penalties.
Prince Harry’s immigration files must be made public by this Tuesday, a US court has ruled.
Judge Carl Nichols ordered documents relating to the Duke of Sussex‘s US visa application to be released as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The FOI request was brought by conservative US think-tank the Heritage Foundation, which alleges the duke may have concealed past drug use and that should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.
Judge Nichols ordered the US Department of Homeland Security to release a redacted version of the documents no later than Tuesday, according to court filings dated 15 March.
However, in September 2024, the same judge previously said that the public did not have a strong interest in the disclosure of Harry’s immigration records.
But the Heritage Foundation wanted the judgment changed.
It questioned why Harry was allowed into the US in 2020 after the royal referenced taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his book Spare.
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In his memoir, Harry said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”
The foundation also said that answers about his prior drug use in his visa application could raise questions over the US government’s integrity.
Despite refusing the previous FOI request, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security agreed in February to release redacted versions of the forms.
“Specifically, Defendant would propose redacting all information in these items that would reveal information that the Court has determined Defendant can withhold,” department lawyer John Bardo wrote in a court filing.
In February, President Donald Trump ruled out deporting Harry from the US, telling The New York Post: “I’ll leave him alone.”
He added: “He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has been a vocal critic of Mr Trump and called him “divisive” and a “misogynist”.
Mr Trump, in a GB News interview with Nigel Farage in March last year, also said Harry should not receive preferential treatment.
He said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”
The royal moved to the US in 2020, following a brief spell in Canada, with his wife Meghan, after the couple’s split from the rest of the Royal Family. They have lived in California ever since.
It’s more than 40 years since British forces fought a brief but bloody campaign to retake the Falkland Islands after their invasion by Argentina.
On the windswept hills around the capital Port Stanley you can still see evidence of battle.
The wreckage of destroyed helicopters, discarded military hardware and shell casings scattered on once strategically important rocky outcrops and boggy valleys.
These relics are quietly rusting away.
But for the few thousand residents of an island archipelago half the size of Wales, memories of the conflict don’t fade.
Image: The wreckage of an Argentinian Chinook
‘I’m not going to speak with a gun at my back’
On 1 April 1982, Patrick Watts was broadcasting news of the unfolding invasion from the studio of Falklands Radio when jubilant Argentinian soldiers burst in.
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The live recording of his exchange with the invaders is now part of the historical record of the invasion.
“I’m not going to speak with a gun in my back,” says Watts to the Argentinian commander.
Image: Sky’s Tom Clarke with former DJ Patrick Watts
Speaking to us 43 years later in the same studio, Patrick clearly recalls his mood that morning.
“For them, the islands, they have always said belong to them. And it’s expressed in their emotions when they come up the passage shouting at each other and they open the door and they come in, they have guns,” he says.
“I then become quite belligerent.”
On the recording, he can be heard ordering the Argentinian commander to tell his men to take their guns outside, to stop shouting and smoking.
“I hate smoking. No smoking in my studio. And he tells them and of course, they’re still shouting and screaming. And then you can hear him shouting, ‘Silencio, silencio’.”
Mr Watts’s calm defiance has come to define the collective attitude of this British Overseas Territory ever since.
Image: A bust of Margaret Thatcher in Port Stanley
But given Argentina has never relinquished its territorial claim to the Falklands, it’s not necessarily the population’s overwhelming desire to remain British that has kept them that way.
‘The threat hasn’t changed’
Since the end of the conflict there has been a UK military presence on the islands.
A 2,000-strong garrison of troops and a squadron of fighter jets and transport aircraft based around the main airport at Mount Pleasant.
A deterrent to Argentina – little more than 200 miles away – not to exercise its continued claim over the Falklands.
Image: Leona Roberts
However, the UK is more than 7,000 miles away and in a world newly dominated by strong men with territorial ambitions.
And the UK’s expensive military commitment to the Falklands comes at a time when the government is under pressure to prioritise defence, and defence spending closer to home.
Walking across the rugged landscape you get a sense of how remote and, to an outsider at least, how inhospitable these islands are.
With military tensions escalating in Europe as US President Donald Trump presses for an end to the war in Ukraine, it’s reasonable to ask whether Falkland Islanders feel less secure than they have done for the past 40 years.
Image: Tributes on the hill at Mount Longdon
“Argentina is always a bit of a shadow over our shoulder,” says Leona Roberts, a member of the Falkland Islands legislative assembly.
“The threat and the situation… has not changed.”
But she is confident the UK will continue its protection of the Falklands. Successive governments, including Sir Keir Starmer‘s, have continued to support the current military presence.
‘We take nothing for granted’
But could it change?
“We take nothing for granted,” she says. “We’re very grateful for the UK’s continuing support.”
Though remote, the Falkland Islands, she argues, are strategically important as a gateway for research and maritime operations around Antarctica and the vast South Atlantic region, as well as politically stable in an increasingly unstable world.
“A little rock of democracy and stability in what is otherwise a pretty volatile region,” she says.
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1:39
The perils of chasing penguins
Argentina’s President Javier Milei, an ally of Mr Trump, has said he will not relinquish the claim to sovereignty over the Falklands, but nor will he seek conflict with the UK.
People here hope their strong desire to remain British will always outweigh the physical distance between them and their protector.