Home secretary admits police are stretched following terror attacks

Ms Rudd was speaking in the House of Commons to stress that an emergency counter terrorism plan could not continue indefinitely without extra resources but explained she would not rush into any decision to increase spending. 

She also confirmed that a review would be conducted into the handling of the terror attacks in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park. The review will be conducted by David Anderson QC who is the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. Mr Anderson stepped down from the role earlier this year and has explained that his role is to oversee the government’s own review of its response to the incidents. He said: “For clarity, I am not conducting my own review but providing oversight of internal operational reviews by police/MI5. Inquests will follow.”

In her speech, the home secretary stated more should be done to stop extremists radicalizing young people and that the government plans to set up a commission aimed at countering extremism. She said: “Resources have been pulled very tight, given the additional work that is needed. There are different ways of addressing this and before rushing in with additional money I want to make sure that we get the right targets and the right answers. I recognise the fact that we cannot carry on at that emergency level indefinitely.

“We must do more to defeat ideologies of hatred by turning people’s minds away from violence and towards pluralistic British values. We must make sure that these ideologies are not able to flourish in the first place.

We must do more to force tech companies to take down terror-related content from their platforms. And we must also do more to identify, challenge and stamp out the extremism that lurks in our communities.”