Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy has insisted terror incidents are "rare" while on a visit to Sutcliffe Street to offer reassurance to the community.
The residential street has been a focal point of the investigation into an explosion at Liverpool Women's Hospital on Sunday, which killed one.
She said: "This has had a significant impact here in Liverpool and right across Merseyside. What I would say to our communities is they will see an increased in uniformed presence.
"Events of this nature are rare. People can expect to see an increase in uniformed officers right across the city, right across Merseyside, to provide that reassurance.
"That's not because we are expecting something else to happen, it's absolutely just so people feel safe to go about their business.
"The officers are briefed. Go and speak to them, ask questions they are expecting that. That's what they are there for."
She did not give updates of the ongoing investigation which she said would come from Counter Terrorism North West.
Parts of western Scotland were rattled by a small earthquake in the middle of the night.
A tremor with a magnitude of 3.1 was measured at 2am around 11 miles northwest of the town of Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute, some 88 miles northwest of Glasgow.
The earthquake happened 10km below the Earth's surface, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
More than 40 people reported to the USGS that they had felt the tremor, with some coming as far away as Edinburgh and Ballycastle in Northern Ireland.
"Nothing like an earthquake to jolt you up. That's the biggest one I've felt," one person said on social media.
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"I'm in Tarbert Argyll. I've never felt one that big, everything in my room shook," they added.
Another said: "Woken in the night by an almighty crash. Nothing obvious. Strange. Then hear I news just now - Earthquake just north of Lochgilphead!!! Argyll turning into California by the minute."
Between 200 and 300 earthquakes are detected in the UK each year, according to data from the British Geological Survey. The tremors range between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude.
The man who died when a homemade bomb exploded outside Liverpool Women's Hospital has been named by police as Emad Al Swealmeen.
The 32-year-old was a passenger in a taxi when his device blew up shortly before 11:00 GMT on Remembrance Sunday.
The driver David Perry escaped before the car caught fire and has since been discharged from hospital.
Four men arrested in Liverpool under the Terrorism Act have been released from police custody without charge.
Meanwhile, the UK terror threat level has been raised to "severe".
Officers believe Al Swealmeen lived at a house in Sutcliffe Street in the Kensington area of Liverpool, where counter-terrorism police officers carried out raids earlier.
Police said he had recently rented an address in Rutland Avenue, near Sefton Park in the city, which has also been searched by officers.
"Our focus is the Rutland Avenue address where we have continued to recover significant items," said Det Ch Insp Andrew Meeks, from Counter Terrorism Police North West.
"Any information that the public may have about Al Swealmeen no matter how small may be of great assistance to us."
In a later statement, police said they had made "significant progress" since Sunday and had a "much greater understanding of the component parts of the device, how they were obtained and how the parts are likely to have been assembled".
BBC News correspondent Ed Thomas said Al Swealmeen was a refugee from Syria who was befriended and supported by Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott, who knew him as Enzo, when he arrived in the UK.
Mrs Hitchcott said she and her husband were "just so sad" and were "very shocked" by his death.
"We just loved him, he was a lovely guy," she added.
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Al Swealmeen is believed to have manufactured and brought the device into the taxi.
Police said he was picked up from the Rutland Avenue area and asked to be taken to the hospital, about 10 minutes away, before the bomb exploded.
He is not believed to have previously been known to MI5.
Four men were arrested under terrorism laws in the Kensington area of Liverpool - three aged 21, 26 and 29, who were held on Sunday, and a 20-year-old man who was detained on Monday.
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said on Monday evening: "Following interviews with the arrested men, we are satisfied with the accounts they have provided and they have been released from police custody."
He said: "It is likely to be some time, perhaps many weeks, until we are confident on our understanding of what has taken place", adding that police have "considerable resources and staff deployed to understand how this device was built and who, if anyone, else was involved".
Investigators are being cautious about drawing conclusions about the motivation of Emad Al Swealmeen.
He is believed to have originally come from the Middle East and went into the asylum system. But in recent years he may have converted to Christianity and also suffered from mental health issues.
The decision to declare this a terrorist incident looks less to be based on a clear understanding of his ideology and more on his methodology, with the use of an improvised explosive device.
However, investigators will still be hoping to gain a better understanding of what exactly lay behind this incident.
Earlier, police said Mr Perry had been released from hospital after being treated for his injuries.
Posting on Facebook, the taxi driver's wife Rachel said he was "lucky to be alive".
"The explosion happened whilst he was in the car and how he managed to escape is an utter miracle," she added.
Police confirmed a controlled explosion had been carried out as a precaution in the Sefton Park area at about 16:00 GMT on Monday as part of the investigation.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the terror threat level had been raised from "substantial" to "severe", meaning an attack is "highly likely", because the explosion in Liverpool was the second incident in a month.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, one of Counter Terrorism Policing's senior national co-ordinators, said the change was a "precautionary measure and not based on any specific threat", adding that the public "should not be alarmed by this change".
The hospital's chief executive, Kathryn Thomson, paid tribute to "brave and dedicated" staff and emergency service workers but added the last two days had been "extremely upsetting and traumatising".
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Senior Conservatives in the UK are prepared to back a ban on outside consultancy work by MPs to stanch accusations of sleaze in a move that Cabinet ministers said could lead to a clear out of older long-serving Tory backbenchers.
The House of Commons on Monday evening is expected to endorse the original parliamentary standards report into disgraced Tory Owen Paterson, the former minister who was found to have breached rules over paid advocacy. Prime minister Boris Johnson’s botched attempt to reform the standards regime to protect Paterson, sparked an uproar over MPs’ outside interests and led to accusations of sleaze.
The parliamentary standards committee, led by Labour MP Chris Bryant, is now examining whether the regime allowing parliamentarians to have second jobs and outside interests should be reformed. The committee’s report is expected to be published by the end of the month.
The committee is expected to focus on whether MPs should be banned from taking on additional roles as political or parliamentary consultants. According to figures from the register of MPs’ interests, at least 30 have recorded earnings from consultancy work.
One senior Cabinet minister said banning consultancy roles was “attractive” because it would “remove the lobbying risk”. But they warned it would lead to many older Tory MPs quitting parliament.
“I expect the people who have them [consultancy jobs] will be the people who the chief whip and others wouldn’t be unhappy if they decided they were not standing at the next election,” the minister said.
A senior Conservative MP added: “There are a lot of ‘former ministers’ here at the moment who seem to have lost a bit of purpose. And I’ve always been in favour of younger people being MPs.”
A Whitehall official involved in discussion over the new rules said: “It’s more likely than not the government will back reforms on second jobs. But we need to tread carefully and not open yet another can of worms. We don’t want to upset loads and loads of MPs with unintended consequences.”
Within Downing Street, there is an “ongoing debate” about ending consultancy work, according to officials. One government insider said Johnson was waiting for Bryant’s committee report before taking action. “It’s a parliamentary matter and there’s a due process we have to follow. But there’s pros and cons to all the solutions that have to be carefully looked at.”
Pushed on whether MPs should be banned from taking on consultancy jobs during a broadcast interview last Monday, the prime minister left it open as a possibility. “I think all those kinds of things are issues that the Speaker’s panel, or whatever he sets up, is going to have a look at,” he said.
Some ministers are concerned that it will be difficult to decide on a definition of consultancy work, but senior MPs believe Bryant’s committee will find a solution.
“There’s definitely scope to draw a clear line on policy consultancy which inevitably creates a conflict, as long as its clear that it’s specific to potential conflicts like that, and not about public service or unconnected outside experience that adds value to policymaking,” one Tory said.
The government’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, recommended in 2018 that MPs should “not undertake outside employment as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant”. It concluded that such roles “can lead to MPs having a privileged relationship with one organisation, and therefore bring undue influence to bear on parliament”.
Bryant said he was unable to comment while the committee makes its recommendations.
Meanwhile, Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, apologised to the parliamentary standards commissioner Kathryn Stone after earlier this month calling on her to consider her position after her critical report into Paterson.
“I did not mean to express doubt about your ability to discharge your role and I apologise for any upset or distress my choice of words may have caused,” Kwarteng wrote.
Boris Johnson has admitted that he "cannot rule out" a lockdown over Christmas if people fail to get their booster vaccine jabs.
But the Prime Minster did add at a Downing Street press conference today (Monday) that there is "nothing in the data" that suggested the country would head for tighter restrictions as the country heads towards the Christmas season.
The booster jabs programme has been extended to the under-50s as Covid cases increase across Europe, The Mirror reports.
He said: “It would be an utter tragedy if, after everything we have been through, people who had done the right thing by getting double vaccinated ended up becoming seriously ill or even losing their lives because they allowed their immunity to wane."
When pressed over whether the government could be forced to bring in a Christmas lockdown, he said: “Clearly we cannot rule anything out and the most important thing people can do to prevent further NPIs from being taken is to – non-pharmaceutical interventions that is, further restrictions – get the boosters.”
He said “GPs are hitting it out of the park again” delivering booster vaccines with numbers rising.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the media regarding the United Kingdom's Covid-19 infection rate and vaccination campaign in Downing Street (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
He added: “It’s starting to build a lot of momentum, but we need to see those 50-plus groups and the 60-plus groups – who can also wind up in hospital very, very easily – getting their booster as soon as you’re called forward to get it.
“That’s the best protection we can have.
“But to repeat, I see nothing in the data at the moment that makes me think we have to go to further measures.”
He said there was a “new wave” of the virus sweeping through central Europe and now affecting western Europe.
“We don’t yet know the extent to which this new wave will sweep up on our shores but history shows that we cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.
Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty (Image: PA)
“Those countries with lower vaccination rates have tended to see bigger surges in infection and in turn been forced to respond with harsher measures while those countries with higher vaccination rates have so far fared better.
“It shows us that if we want to control the epidemic here in the UK and if we want to avoid restrictions on our daily lives we must all get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said “we’re beginning to see a winter respiratory effect” of other viruses impacting on the pandemic.
Enter your postcode for the latest Covid-19 data for your area
England’s chief medical officer told a Downing Street press conference: “There has already been a very significant increase in eastern Europe which is still ongoing, with significant numbers of people dying, in particular among the unvaccinated.
“That has now moved westward and, as you can see, is now increasing significantly, also in many western European countries.
“We all knew – everywhere in Europe we knew – that as we went into winter, into the typical respiratory virus/flu season, that the risks would be greater, and I think this is a demonstration of the fact that we’re beginning to see a winter respiratory effect.”
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0:39
CCTV: Moments before and after taxi explosion
Officers said they believe he is the male passenger who brought a homemade bomb with him into a taxi and asked to be taken to the hospital shortly before 11.00am on Remembrance Sunday.
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He was picked up in the Rutland Avenue area of the city and as the car reached the hospital's passenger drop-off point, it exploded.
The driver of the cab, David Perry, was treated in hospital after fleeing the car just before it burst into flames, and has now been discharged.
More on this story
Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Meeks, from Counter Terrorism Police North West, said: "Our enquiries are very much ongoing but at this stage we strongly believe that the deceased is 32-year-old Emad al Swealmeen."
Officers believe Al Swealmeen lived at a house in Sutcliffe Street for some time and had recently rented a property on Rutland Avenue near Sefton Park - two addresses where searches have been taking place.
"Our focus is the Rutland Avenue address where we have continued to recover significant items," said DCI Meeks.
Three men, aged 29, 26 and 21, were arrested under terrorism laws at the Sutcliffe Street address, which is about a mile from the hospital - and a fourth man, aged 20, was detained in the Kensington area.
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1:06
PM: 'We must all be utterly vigilant'
"We continue to appeal for any information about this incident and now that we have released his name any information that the public may have about al Swealmeen no matter how small may be of great assistance to us."
As part of their investigation, police previously carried out a controlled explosion in Sefton Park which they said was a precaution.
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2:14
UK terror threat level raised
The UK's terror threat level was raised from "substantial" to "severe" in the wake of the incident, meaning an attack is now judged to be "highly likely".
Speaking at a press conference at Downing Street, the Prime Minister said the blast was a "stark reminder" to the public to remain vigilant, adding: "What yesterday showed above all is that the British people will never be cowed by terrorism, we will never give in to those who seek to divide us with senseless acts of violence.
"And our freedoms and our way of life will always prevail."
Boris Johnson is facing uproar from civic leaders and Tory MPs in northern England and co-ordinated media opposition as he prepares to scrap most of the eastern leg of the High Speed 2 railway and water down plans for an entirely new Leeds-Manchester line.
The prime minister is poised to cut back both projects in an “Integrated Rail Review”, which is set to be published on Thursday.
Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, said the revised plan would provide fewer benefits for connectivity and capacity on the railways. “The worst thing the government can do is . . . to overpromise and underdeliver, that is what it looks like is going to happen here,” he said.
One senior Tory said that the move exposed that Johnson “has never had a plan for levelling up”.
“Now they’ve cancelled half of HS2, a project that’s enjoyed cross party support over a decade and over four PMs.” The person dismissed the new northern rail plan as merely “the same upgrade proposals that Network Rail had back in 2009”.
Several newspapers in northern England and the Midlands are set to publish virtually identical front pages on Tuesday calling on the government not to break its promises on rail infrastructure.
Dan Jarvis, the Labour mayor of South Yorkshire, said: “It seems like, as we feared, the government is going to try go get away with doing as little as possible to help the north.”
Johnson promised in July 2019, soon after entering Downing Street, that he would “be the prime minister who does with Northern Powerhouse Rail what we did for Crossrail in London”, referring to the strategic rail programme designed to transform the region’s economy and a new east-west line cutting through the capital. He made a similar pledge in his speech to the Conservative party conference last month.
Northern Powerhouse Rail originally included an entirely new high-speed link from Manchester to Leeds. Now some new line will be built from Manchester to a point close to Huddersfield but the rest of the route to Leeds will consist of upgrades to the existing “Transpennine” route.
Meanwhile the government is set to scrap the majority of the eastern leg of HS2 in a bid to save money, even though the original business case for the railway was heavily premised on building the line in full.
The line was initially planned to run from London to Birmingham and then on to Manchester in the west and about 115 miles to Leeds in the east.
The eastern leg will now go only 42 miles from Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway, near Nottingham.
One Tory MP in a “red wall” seat that flipped from Labour at the last election said: “Losing part of the eastern leg of High Speed 2 is very disappointing, it would be transformative for capacity in the north. So it’s absolutely fundamental to get a new Manchester to Leeds railway.”
Johnson said at a press conference on Monday that the plans would be “fantastic” for northern England but added: “Wait to see what is unveiled on Thursday.”
Bradford is one of the cities likely to lose out from the changes. Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, said: “This is Boris pulling the whole damn rug from under our feet.”
Jim McMahon, shadow transport secretary, said ministers had committed to both schemes in full “dozens of times” in recent years. “It is laughable that the government expects people in the north to be grateful for some half-baked and repackaged plans, as they attempt to quietly back out of the promises made on the vital major infrastructure projects those communities need so badly.”
The rail review is also expected to propose the electrification of the Midland mainline which goes from London to Nottingham and Sheffield.
