- Prime Minister’s spokesman said Theresa May is being constantly updated
- New intervention comes after police confirmed the use of a rare nerve agent
- Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to update MPs on the incident later today
Theresa May today branded an attempt to kill a Russian double agent with a nerve agent an ‘appalling and reckless crime’.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman vowed those responsible for the attempt on Sergei Skripal’s life would be met with a ‘robust’ response from Britain.
Mrs May’s new intervention came after the police confirmed a rare nerve agent was used in the attempted assassination in Salisbury on Sunday.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to update MPs on the latest steps in the investigation later.
Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street last night) today branded an attempt to kill a Russian double agent with a nerve agent an ‘appalling and reckless crime’.
Counter-terror police are working to unravel what is now feared to be a sophisticated chemical weapon plot targeting Sergei Skripal (left), 66, and his daughter Yulia (right), 33
Mrs May’s spokesman said today: ‘The Prime Minister has been updated by officials throughout this time and continues to be so.
‘It’s clear that this was an appalling and reckless crime and the public will rightly want those responsible to be held to account.
‘But it’s important that we avoid speculation and allow the police and others to investigate and establish the facts.
‘As the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary have made clear, our response to those found to be responsible will be robust.’
The Prime Minister also passed her thanks to the police and emergency services for their ‘courage’.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd spoke to ITV’s Good Morning Britain today after it emerged one of the first police officers to arrive at the bench where the pair were slumped is seriously ill
Home Secretary Amber Rudd revealed today that a police officer hospitalised after responding to the attack is now ‘talking and engaging’.
Ms Rudd told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were still in a ‘very serious condition’ following the plot on Sunday.
Ms Rudd said: ‘I’ve spoken to Mark Rowley (Scotland Yard’s head of counter-terrorism policing) this morning. The two targets are still in very serious condition.
‘The policeman is talking and is engaging, so I’m more optimistic for him, but it’s too early to say. This is a nerve agent. You know, we are still treating it as very serious.’
She added that she was ‘hopeful’ that the police officer would make a recovery.