The UK's Secretary of Defense Michael Fallon has said that an ISIS terror attack similar to those that rocked Paris and Brussels is likely to happen in the UK.

Fallon made the statement as British Parliament is poised to vote this Monday on airstrikes in Syria.   

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"The threat to the UK is extremely high," Fallon told The Telegraph. "An attack is highly likely so we have to respond."

The British intelligence service shares Fallon's view.  Only last month, Andrew Parker, head of MI5, said the UK faces the biggest threat from international terrorism in over three decades. "The threat we are facing today is on a scale and at a tempo that I have not seen before in my career," Parker said.

The spy chief said a growing proportion of the threat comes from ISIS in Syria.   

Fallon warned that British Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to bomb Syria may fall through if Jeremy Corbyn orders the UK's Labour Party to vote against it.  Britain has so far refrained from bombing ISIS in Syria after MPs rejected a vote for airstrikes against the Syrian government in 2013. 

Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party and head of what has come to be called "the shadow cabinet", is an outspoken opponent of the airstrikes. But observers note that he remains undecided as to whether he should allow his MPs a free vote on the issue.

While Cameron has downplayed the Labour MP's ability to block his plan, Fallon said Corbyn could do just that on Monday.  The defense secretary has accordingly spent much of his time urging all MPs to support the proposed airstrikes. 

"I hope all MPs will weigh up the arguments," Fallon said. "They need to keep us safe here in Britain to respond to the United Nations resolution and to France's call for help."

Fallon asserts that the risks of a terror attack on UK soil are real.  He revealed that British spies and law enforcement agents have foiled as many as six terror plots in the country in the past few months alone.   

"I can't go into detail of the individual plots that have been foiled," Fallon said.  "The threat from ISIL is as potent here as it was real in Paris and Brussels."

The UK is no stranger to terror attacks. Fifty-six people were killed when Islamist suicide bombers detonated bombs on three trains and a double-decker bus in London in July 2005.  

"These are not people you can negotiate with," Fallon warned.  "You can only deal with them by force."

TagsUK, ISIS, terror plot, Airstrikes, Michael Fallon, Jeremy Corbyn, ISIS Terror Attack Britain