New procedures are being introduced to stop suspected terrorists from boarding planes said Gordon Brown yesterday after fears of fresh attacks by al-Qaeda following the Detroit bombing by Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab.

The “watch list” system will be used to stop suspected terrorists from boarding planes in a two-stage system.

The new system will increase the people on the No-fly list and also introduce a second list which will prompt a second tier of travellers to additional checks.

The British Prime Minister warned that there were a number of groups still trying to target countries and that England was a prime target after a briefing of the intelligence at a meeting of the Cabinet’s National Security Committee.