National terror threat reduced from critical to severe after Manchester bombing

The national terror threat level has been reduced from critical to severe, Theresa May has announced.

The change means an attack is no longer considered to be imminent but is still highly likely.

Operation Temperer, which allows the military to be deployed to key sites, will now continue until the end of the bank holiday, the Prime Minister said.

Troops, who had been put on guard at a string of landmarks including Westminster and Buckingham Palace, will be gradually removed from the streets from midnight on Monday

Speaking after a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee, Mrs May said the decision had been taken after "a significant amount of police activity" over the last 24 hours.

She said: "The public should be clear about what this means - a threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. The country should remain vigilant."

The massacre at the Manchester Arena carried out by Salman Abedi, in which 22 people were killed, was the worst terrorist atrocity to hit Britain since the July 7 attacks in London in 2005.

The terror threat had been at critical for the first time in a decade.

Mrs May also said Operation Temperer, allowing the military to be deployed to protect key sites, will be rolled back after the Bank Holiday.

She said: "To provide maximum reassurance to the public Operation Temperer will continue to operate until the Bank Holiday concludes.

"Then from midnight on Monday onwards there will be a well planned and gradual withdrawal of members of the armed forces who will return to normal duties."

The de-escalation came as a street in Manchester's Moss Side was evacuated by counter-terror officers.

Boscombe Street was said to been cleared on Saturday morning, with one witness describing a bomb-disposal van parked at the junction with Yew Tree Road.

An address in the area was being searched by detectives as they sought to close the net on the suspected terror cell behind Abedi.

Yamma Wu, 29, said she had been ordered not to leave her house by officers.

"I can see police cars outside the street and they are not allowing people out or in and there is an evacuation in this area, but because I have got a little baby with me they told me I could say inside, but I could not go out," she said.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.