mean vs would mean

[uktous]

hi,

Question:
In term of meaning, any difference between sentence 1 and 2?

Sentence1:
Scotland Yard and the Home Office stress that the overall threat level in the country had not been raised to the highest "critical" level, which would mean an incident was expected imminently.

Sentence2:
Scotland Yard and the Home Office stress that the overall threat level in the country had not been raised to the highest "critical" level, which meant an incident was expected imminently.



Thanks

[5jj]

hi,
1: Scotland Yard and the Home Office stress that the overall threat level in the country had not been raised to the highest "critical" level, which would mean an incident was expected imminently.

2: Scotland Yard and the Home Office stress that the overall threat level in the country had not been raised to the highest "critical" level, which meant an incident was expected imminently.

#1 means that a hypothetical raising of the threat level would signify that an incident was expected. It has not be raised, and so no incident is expected.

#2 is, as it stands, nonsense. It says that the not-raising of the threat level signified that an incident was expected.