Britain lowered guard after June report

The Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre report prompted the British government to lower its formal threat assessment one level, from ‘‘severe defined’’ to ‘‘substantial’’. The Centre includes officials from Britain’s top intelligence agencies as well as Customs and the Metropolitan Police.

The tersely worded threat assessment was particularly surprising because it stated that terrorist-related activity in Britain was a direct result of the violence in Iraq.

‘‘Events in Iraq are continuing to act as motivation and a focus of a range of terrorist related activity in the UK,’’ said the report, a copy of which was made available by a foreign intelligence service.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and other British government leaders have sharply criticised claims made since the attacks that the country’s support for the American-led war in Iraq and the involvement of British troops in fighting the insurgency there were factors in the terrorist bombings on British soil.

On Monday, the Royal Institute of International Affairs had said Britain’s participation in the war in Iraq had made it vulnerable to terrorist attack.

UK ropes in Opp on anti-terrorism law

LONDON: Britain’s Interior Minister moved a step closer on Tuesaday to passing tough new anti-terrorism laws after ‘‘broad support’’ from the Opposition.

Following hour-long talks, Home Secretary Charles Clarke told reporters, ‘‘We believe that it will enable us to address the threat we face with a unity and determination which is critical.’’

‘‘The central message from today is the determination by all of us to legislate… on counter-terrorism,’’ he added. The bill would outlaw the indirect incitement of terrorism, and is expected to be put before lawmakers in October and to become law by December.

Tougher new laws—which initially sparked outrage from the Opposition when they were first aired earlier this year—seem likely to win widespread public support in the wake of the attacks. —Reuters