ISC will not assess MI5 and police’s role in UK attacks

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has revealed that UK security services, including MI5 and the police, are to escape further scrutiny by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) for their failure to prevent four terror attacks this year. David Anderson QC published his report on the performance of MI5 and counter terror police on 5 December, finding that it was ‘conceivable’ that the Manchester Arena attack might have been prevented, ‘although investigative actions in all cases were for the most part sound’. Rudd, however, has provided backing to an increased role for MI5 in tackling domestic extremism, alongside that of external extremism, including that of an Islamist nature. Dominic Grieve, the ISC chairman, told MPs that the committee would ‘endeavour to maximise the efficiency of both services’ and said its priority would be ensuring recommended changes ‘in the way in which the work of the counter terrorism agencies and MI5 is linked in the sharing of intelligence’.