Terrorism presents a serious and sustained threat to the United Kingdom and UK interests abroad. Terrorist groups seek to cause widespread disruption, fear and intimidation. They use violence or the threat of violence as a means of publicising their causes, motivating those who might be sympathetic to them and intimidating those who do not sympathise. They often aim to influence government policies and they often reject existing democratic processes, or even democracy itself, as a means of achieving their objectives. Although there is no generally agreed definition of terrorism internationally, in the UK the Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism as:
The use or threat of action designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public, or a section of the public; made for the purposes of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause; and it involves or causes:•serious violence against a person;
•serious damage to a property;
•a threat to a person's life;
•a serious risk to the health and safety of the public; or
•serious interference with or disruption to an electronic system."