Britain faces wave of post-lockdown terror plots, Priti Patel warns

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BRITAIN faces a wave of post-lockdown terror plots, Home Secretary Priti Patel has warned.

Islamic fanatics and right-wing extremists have been curbed by controls in place for the pandemic.

Priti Patel has warned that Britain faces a wave of post-lockdown terror plots

But as restrictions ease, spooks fear a surge in attack planning.

Britain could also see a rise in newly radicalised recruits triggered by spending months alone online.

Ms Patel said: “The threats are everywhere.

“We’ve had a year of people being locked down. We see all sorts of issues in terms of mental health.

“We have to look at a wide range of environmental factors that could act as triggers when it comes to ­terrorism-type behaviour.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick shows the Director General of MI5, the Mayor of London and Home Secretary the new operations suite

Her comments were backed by Chris Phillips, the ex-head of national counter terrorism.

He said: “The growth of right-wing terrorism is a major issue. It’s certainly the growth area at the moment, albeit that we still have the extreme Islamic threat.”

A new Counter Terrorism Operations Centre opened on Monday, bringing MI5, the Met, Home Office and Prison Service all under one roof to better tackle the terror threat.