Shadow home secretary suggests judge-led inquiry into ‘lone wolf’ attackers

Shadow home secretary Thomas-Symonds  has suggested a judge-led inquiry into “lone wolf” attackers could be needed in the wake of the Liverpool attack.

Yesterday the UK’s terror threat was raised from “substantial” to “severe”, meaning a terror attack is “highly likely”.

Three men were arrested in Liverpool on Sunday under the Terrorism Act, after one man was killed in a car.

A fourth man has since been arrested in connection with the blast.

In an interview with BBC One’s Breakfast programme today, Mr Thomas-Symonds argued that it was unwise to draw “conclusions too quickly about the background of the perpetrator in this case”, adding that “different details will emerge over time and we need to get that full picture to make an assessment in this particular instance as to whether more could have been done”.

“We don’t know the specific conclusions in the case in Liverpool yet as to whether someone was acting alone or in concert,” he explained, “and I’m not for a moment drawing that conclusion too prematurely.”

“But I do think we need to be looking at the attacks that have taken place. Do we need something like a judge-led inquiry to look at the issue of lone attackers? And we need now, as I say, to get this investigation concluded as swiftly as possible, and then to look at the wider conclusions that perhaps we need to draw.”

Sunday’s incident came just weeks after Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed after being stabbed multiple times by a 25-year-old man during a constituency surgery.

The Metropolitan Police has since said the attacker had potential links to Islamist extremism.