Britain and France sign landmark military cooperation treaties

British PM and French president sign 50-year treaties to facilitate closer co-operation between the countries' armed forces and on their nuclear deterrents.

David Cameron said today that the importance of international defence co-operation had been illustrated by the foiled cargo plane bomb plot, as he hailed the signing of two new treaties with France.

The prime minister and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, put pen to paper today on the documents, which will facilitate closer co-operation between the countries' armed forces and on their nuclear deterrents, The Guardian informs.

"We review the status of our terror alert regularly," he said during a visit to London by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"We have no plans to change it at the moment, but it is already... at a level where we believe attacks are likely, so we have a very high level of alert."

The level is currently at severe, the second highest, suggesting an attack is highly likely, Reuters says.