Jeremy Hunt says UK should ‘absolutely’ be concerned about Islamic State after Moscow attack

Published

1 year ago

March 24, 2024

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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has warned the UK should “absolutely” be concerned about the threat of Islamic State following the terror attack in Moscow.

At least 133 people died in the massacre in the Russian capital on Friday.

Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), which is a branch of the militant group operating in central Asia, has claimed responsibility.

Asked if the rest of Europe – including the UK – should be “concerned” in the wake of Friday’s events, Mr Hunt told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Absolutely.”

He added: “We are very lucky in this country that we have incredibly impressive intelligence agencies who have been successful in stopping, in foiling, a lot of terrorist threats over recent years.

“But we have to remain vigilant – and, you know, if it is Islamic State, they are utterly indiscriminate in what they do, they are prepared to murder in the most horrific way.”

Asked if there was a chance of the UK’s threat level being raised, Mr Hunt said this was decided by a “special system” in government, and said he was not privy to their discussions.

“I know that they will be looking at this kind of event” Mr Hunt said, “And then they’ll be looking at the intelligence that our own intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, GCHQ, are picking up.

“And, what I would say is that while we must remain vigilant, they have been extraordinarily successful in foiling a number of plots – a lot of things that never reached the public domain.”

Currently, the UK’s threat level is “substantial” – the third-highest rating, according to the Security Service, also known as MI5.

The levels are as follows:

• Low – an attack is highly unlikely
• Moderate – an attack is possible, but not likely
• Substantial – an attack is likely
• Severe – an attack is highly likely
• Critical – an attack is highly likely in the near future

With Russia claiming there may be Ukrainian involvement in the attacks on Friday, Mr Hunt was asked how much the public should believe them.

He told Sky News: “I think we have very little confidence in anything the Russian government says.

“We know that they are creating a smokescreen of propaganda to defend an utterly evil invasion of Ukraine.”

He added that he takes “what the Russian government says with an enormous pinch of salt”.

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Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

Published

20 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.