National security plan criticised

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Instead ministers have been "lurching from one crisis to another" and leaving the country vulnerable to attack, according to think-tank Demos.

The report urges a radical reform of Whitehall structures, including the creation of a national security secretariat with an overview of the situation at home and abroad. It also calls for the Government to publish an annual threat assessment of the major security issues facing the UK - such as international terrorism, nuclear proliferation and organised crime.

Research from MORI commissioned to accompany the report found that 62% of people believed that Britain was at greater danger of attack now than at any time since the Second World War.

However, only 33% thought any political party had policies that could deliver security for the nation.

The report's author, Charlie Edwards, said: "Successive British governments have rarely taken a strategic approach to national security. Decisions remain focused on short-term initiatives.

"Worryingly, the overall approach is becoming less - not more - coherent. Governments lurch from one crisis to the next, neither protecting people nor empowering them.

"The forthcoming national security strategy is a step in the right direction but its aim must be to transform our outdated and compartmentalised national security architecture.

"Unless we have joined-up government of national security, we will be vulnerable through the cracks."