Britain’s airports and nuclear power stations have been told to tighten their defences against terrorist attacks in the face of increased threats to electronic security systems.
Security services have issued a series of alerts in the past 24 hours, warning that terrorists may have developed ways of bypassing safety checks.
Intelligence agencies believe that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and other terrorist groups have developed ways to plant explosives in laptops and mobile phones that can evade airport security screening methods.
Now there are concerns that terrorists will use the techniques to bypass screening devices at European and US airports.
There were also fears that computer hackers were trying to bypass nuclear power station security measures. Government officials have warned that terrorists, foreign spies and “hacktivists” are looking to exploit “vulnerabilities” in the nuclear industry’s internet defences.
Jesse Norman, the energy minister, told The Telegraph that nuclear plants must make sure that they “remain resilient to evolving cyber threats”.
Mr Norman said: “The Government is fully committed to defending the UK against cyber threats, with a £1.9 billion investment designed to transform this country’s cyber security.”
He said the civil nuclear strategy published in February sets out ways to ensure that the civil nuclear sector “can defend against, recover from, and remain resilient to evolving cyber threats”.
The Prime Minister should exploit the current turmoil in the EU to get the best deal for Britain in the upcoming Brexit negotiations, Telegraph columnist Allister Heath argues.
In a new video, Article 50: Theresa May's Winning Hand, Heath shows just how powerful her negotiating position could actually be.
He contends that the rise of populism on the continent, the strength of Britain's economy and Europe's fear of terrorism all make a good deal for the UK more likely.
And he urges Mrs May, as she triggers Article 50, to recognise that she could have the upper hand and go "all in" when the chance to strike arises.
"The EU is on the verge of the abyss," he says. "We need to leave quickly. But it is clear that Theresa May has a winning hand."
The EU’s draft Brexit negotiating guidelines were sent to member states on Friday (31 March), two days after the UK triggered its exit procedure from the bloc.
The guidelines, obtained by EUobserver, set out the political priorities and principles for the Union.
Member states are now going through the text to finalise their positions. The guidelines will then be adopted at a summit of EU leaders on 29 April.
The EU will want to create certainty for the EU citizens caught up in Brexit - either EU nationals living in the UK, or Britons living in the EU.
The issue is very complex: negotiators will first need to identify who these people are, who is living in the UK now, as well as who has lived there before and might return. What about relatives - what should happen to their right to work, and their access to benefits and health care?
The EU wants "reciprocal, non-discriminatory" rules that are “enforceable” on both sides. This means that some sort of mechanism, or court, will have to oversee these rights. In the EU it is the European Court of Justice (ECJ), but there is still questions about what type of procedure will suit the UK.
The Republic of Ireland remains a key issue for the EU, as it wants to preserve the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, and to avoid hard borders.
But an EU official confirmed that "it will be an external border of the EU, so in a legal sense there will be a new quality [to] the border,” indicating that there will need to be changes to the current arrangement.
He added the EU’s commitment is to be "flexible and imaginative” about figuring out a way of doing that without undermining the single market, or the EU's legal order.
The EU’s draft guidelines state that the first phase of the negotiations should aim to agree on a divorce settlement on the rights and obligations of the UK.
It would have the goal of providing "as much clarity and legal certainty as possible to citizens, businesses, stakeholders and international partners” on the future.
An agreement on these points does not have to be achieved for the EU and the UK to start talking about the future in a next phase, but “sufficient progress” is necessary.
It is a political assessment, and it is for the EU leaders to decide when that sufficient progress has been achieved, based on the recommendations of the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.
"Brexit will have consequences, things will change,” warned a senior EU official.
“There will be some level of destruction, barriers, not because of Brussels bureaucrats but because of the UK's decision,” he added, reiterating European Council president Donald Tusk’s sentiments that the Brexit talks will amount to “damage control”.
The draft guidelines will be further discussed on 11 and 24 April at the meetings of EU affairs advisers, who give counsel to the leaders.
The EU affairs ministers will also comb through the text on 27 April, in preparation for the 29 April summit.
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