Prime Minister Andy Burnham will chair an emergency Cobra meeting after five British nationals were arrested over a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford, as ministers seek a clearer picture of an incident that triggered a major security operation in Gloucestershire.
The arrests followed a 999 call from a resident in Whelford who reported seeing three vans and a group of masked men close to the military base early on Sunday.
The suspects were initially detained over suspected explosives offences before subsequently being arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences.
RAF Fairford has been used by US forces and has become a strategically sensitive site amid the conflict involving Iran. The base has previously been used for US military operations in the region after the UK Government authorised American use of the facility.
Burnham told LBC that the Cobra meeting would seek to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.
“I want to thank the police, the Gloucestershire Police, the security services, the emergency services, the public who alerted us, so thank you to everybody for the way that they’ve worked,” he said.
“What I can say is that I will chair a meeting of Cobra later this afternoon just to make sure we have the full picture, the full situation very clearly in our sights and so maybe we’ll say more about that later today.”
The arrests have raised concerns among residents and local politicians over security around the base, particularly given its strategic importance.
Roz Savage, the Liberal Democrat MP whose constituency includes RAF Fairford, said the incident had raised questions over assurances previously given to residents about their safety.
“Ever since it was first announced six months ago that RAF Fairford was going to be used as the base for US military airstrikes on Iran, I’ve been asking questions of the Government about whether they can assure my residents, my constituents, of their safety,” she said.
“They had given that assurance; however, I feel that the events of this weekend do cast that into doubt.”
“It actually makes my blood run cold when I think how close we may have come to disaster this weekend,” Savage added.
She said she would write to Burnham and Defence Secretary John Healey seeking answers about the incident and how the potential threat was detected and contained.
“But get those answers we must – to make sure that going into the future lessons have been learned and that my constituents are not put at this kind of risk ever again,” she said.
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