15 November 2002
In a speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet in the City of London on November 11, Blair warned that people must remain 'alert' and 'vigilant' against the threat of terrorism.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: 'Local authorities have a statutory duty to plan for major incidents, but there is no current evidence that points to a specific threat.'
Blair said that the recent bombing in Bali and attack on a French ship off Yemen showed that 'today's breed of terrorist knows no bounds – of geography, of inhumanity, or of scale'.
He added: 'Barely a day goes by without some new piece of intelligence coming via our security services about a threat to UK interests. Some of it will be gossip. Other material will be based on technical intelligence gathering.'
The warning came as the National Audit Office was preparing to publish a report on the NHS's readiness to deal with major incidents.
PFnov2002
