Exclusive:
Writing exclusively for the Sunday Mirror ahead of the 20th anniversary of 7/7, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper reflects on one of Britain’s darkest days – and how she’s helping to stop it ever happening again
On 7 July 2005, our country suffered one of its darkest days.
It should have been a day of celebration. Less than 24 hours before, it was announced that London would host the 2012 Olympic Games.
But that morning, as hundreds of thousands of people travelled across the Capital, terror struck. 52 people never came home. Hundreds more were injured. Four men, consumed with hatred, committed the worst terrorist atrocity to hit the UK.
On this anniversary, we remember those 52 and their loved ones, and hold in our hearts all those who faced life-changing injuries and trauma.
I also pay tribute to the heroism and humanity of those who responded that day. Fellow passengers faced with the unimaginable saved lives by tying makeshift tourniquets, tending wounds and helping each other along the tracks to safety. The bravery of emergency services workers arriving to protect the public.
Our Capital and our country came together to make clear that terror can never be allowed to win.
The first three suicide bombs went off underground just before 9am – at Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square. The fourth on a bus in Tavistock Square.
Twenty years on, I remember so clearly how the terrible news emerged. As a junior government minister, I had just left King’s Cross station heading north to speak at a local government conference. A message came through from the Department that there had been an explosion on the Underground, probably gas or a power surge, but they were worried about casualties. It took several hours for the full horror to become clear.
Suicide bombs were deliberately detonated on crowded tube carriages and a bus – targeting hundreds of innocent people. The bombers pursued a warped Islamist extremist ideology, swearing allegiance to Al-Qaeda, attempting to kill and maim as many of their fellow citizens as possible.
In the aftermath of the attack, the government worked with the emergency and security services to strengthen our counter-terrorism response. The cross-government CONTEST strategy, first drawn up by the Labour Government in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the US, was strengthened and refreshed. The anti-radicalisation programme Prevent, became more important than ever. And communities stood together across the nation determined to ensure that hatred would not win.
The work done at that time has endured and evolved since to deal with changing threats. Islamist extremist terrorism remains the greatest threat identified by MI5 and counter-terrorism policing, followed by extreme right-wing terrorism. But we also face hybrid threats to our national security from hostile states, serious organised crime, cyber criminals, those threatening our border security and a troubling rise in violence-fixated individuals radicalised online.
Our response has to evolve too. This year, we introduced Martyn’s Law received Royal Assent – named after Martyn Hett who was killed in the Manchester Arena attack – bringing in stronger safety plans for certain venues and events.
We are reforming the Prevent programme and have appointed the first ever independent Prevent Commissioner. New powers are being brought in, including new youth diversion orders to divert young people away from terrorism-related activity and new protections against hostile state activity from countries like Iran or Russia.
We are also working to deliver the first ever Support Hub to ensure victims and survivors of terrorism get the support they need to rebuild their lives.
Now, as then, our country continues to face threats. But the government’s message is clear: we will relentlessly confront and counter threats to our national security.
We will fight every day to protect lives and preserve our way of life so our communities can still stand together, just as we did that day twenty years ago.
And we will always champion freedom, respect, community and democracy. For these are the values terrorists despise – and they are the values that make us strong.