Britain faces ‘high risk’ of IS terrorism

Britain’s domestic spy service chief says Islamist militants pose the biggest threat to the country that he had seen in his 32 years in intelligence, as he called for new digital surveillance powers to keep Britons safe.

Andrew Parker, head of MI5, said that militants are planning mass casualty attacks, and the threat was “on a scale and at a tempo that I have not seen before in my career”.

His remarks coincide with Conservative prime minister David Cameron’s plans to bolster the powers of spies and police.