Intel recruiting

MI5 in race to hire spooks in record numbers to fight back against 23,000 jihadists on the loose

MI5 is frantically recruiting spooks in record numbers to cope with 23,000 jihadists on the loose in Britain.

But it takes more than a year to train new spies before they are ready to combat what one Whitehall source called the “unprecedented scale of threat” we now face.

Jeremy Corbyn told the Sunday Mirror the astonishing number of extremists shows that “no one should be in any doubt about the scale of the challenge we face keeping people safe.”

The Labour leader added: “The Government can’t keep cutting resources. Labour pledges more police in our communities to build the links and trust that form an essential part of the wider fight against terrorism.”

MI6, which gathers intelligence abroad, also plans to boost its staff by 1,000 to 3,500 by 2020.