Britain remains on red alert: Interior minister

Britain was put on 'critical' footing, the highest of five levels, for the first time on Thursday.

Britain will remain on the highest level of security alert as a precautionary measure following the thwarting of an alleged plot to blow up US-bound flights, Home Secretary John Reid said on Friday.

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Reid told a news conference that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which sets the threat level, had advised that it should remain at the top level as a "precautionary measure".

Britain was put on "critical" footing, the highest of five levels, for the first time on Thursday as police revealed they had foiled the alleged plot, which police said would have caused carnage on an "unimaginable scale".

The "critical" threat level means that "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK," according to the website of MI5, Britain's domestic Security Service.