Question marks raised over Glasgow security

Question marks have been raised over security at Glasgow Airport after the terror attack last week.

Reports have revealed that there was a distinct lack of an armed police presence at the site when the main terminal was attacked.

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said: "Strathclyde Police always has a firearms capability ready and [the officers] were on mobile patrol. We only station armed officers at the airport when the national threat level is at critical."

Armed police were in place at Edinburgh Airport and Aberdeen Airport, but not Glasgow – the country's busiest.

Last week two men drove a flaming Jeep into the terminal at Glasgow Airport, following two failed car bomb attempts in central London.

The Glasgow Airport attack has prompted Gordon Brown's new security minister Admiral Sir Alan West to speculate how long it will take to diffuse the current terror threat level in Britain.

"This is not a quick thing," he said. "I believe it will take ten to 15 years. But I believe it can be done as long as we as a nation apply ourselves and it's done across the board."