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London attack: police confirm seven people arrested – live
London attack: police confirm seven people arrested – live
(35 minutes later)
9.01am GMT
9.38am GMT
09:01
09:38
The Guardian’s Scotland editor Severin Carrell reports that Holyrood will hold a minute’s silence this morning.
A service is now taking place in front of Scotland Yard, in front of the flame that burns as a tribute to all dead Metropolitan police officers. A pray is being read by the Met’s chaplain, Rev Jonathan Osborne.
@ScotParl to hold one minute's silence at 09.33 today in solidarity with dead at #Westminster pic.twitter.com/s605RcJkgL
9.35am GMT
9.00am GMT
09:35
09:00
The Commons chamber is packed. MPs are standing to observe the silence.
Here is the full interview from defence secretary Michael Fallon this morning.
Fallon says the belief is that the man was motivated by international terrorism
Their working assumption this is linked to Islamic terrorism but they don’t yet know and the investigation - and it is a very large investigation - has been underway since it happened.
Fallon said attacks are not part of normal life but London was clearly a target police were preparing for
The current warning is at severe - that an attack - and that has been the case for sometime, is likely but not imminent. There is no specific information about other attacks and let me emphasise today although there is intense security around palace of Westminster, London is going to work this morning, I passed school children going to school, there are school trips going ahead, parliament itself will resume at the normal time at half past nine.
Fallon said it was not the case that police could not prevent “low tech” attacks but admitted it was more difficult.
The police and agencies that we rely on for our security have forestalled a large number of these attacks in recent years over a dozen last year.
Now of course this kind of attack, this lone wolf attack, things from daily life - a vehicle, a knife are much more difficult to forestall - and we are dealing with a terrorist enemy that is not making demands or holding people hostage but just to kill as many people as possible.
This is a new element to international terrorism but our forces are working extremely hard to identify those that are involved to this and I have every confidence they will be able to track down the associates of this particular man.
Fallon said police had to work on the assumption others may have helped prepare the attack.
The police have to proceed on the presumption that he may well have been assisted in this task - there may have been others involved - they have been working right through the night looking into his background, how he got hold of vehicle and who or where the vehicle has been in the last day or two and he may or may not have been helped.
He also insists it is not the case that the security of parliament was breached, and that is down to the bravery of PC Keith Palmer at carriage gate.
In paying tribute to PC Keith Palmer, they did not get into parliament, they only got as far as the gate, they did not breach the security of the House of Commons - he gave his life to protect our democracy.
Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed, people are coming and going all the time, there was a division in place in the House of Commons at that time - people arriving at the gates by car or foot to vote on that.
But obviously this is something that will be reviewed by the House authorities.
Fallon also said the cabinet had reviewed at the Cobr meeting whether the Metropolitan police had all the resources they need, including military back-up to deal with situations like that.
There have been increases in the budgets of security services - we will continue to keep that under review. I want to reassure you that the police and security sources will have resources they need.
8.48am GMT
08:48
A minute’s silence will take place in parliament, just after the start of business this morning.
Minute silence in Parliament after usual prayers in the Commons pic.twitter.com/dxjwBCD8Am
I’m joined by my colleague Andrew Sparrow in Westminster now, he’ll be taking charge of events today in Westminster while I monitor developments in the investigations. You can get in touch with either of us via Twitter, @jessicaelgot and @AndrewSparrow.
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at 8.53am GMT
at 9.38am GMT
8.33am GMT
9.34am GMT
08:33
09:34
Victim named as Aysha Frade, teacher and mother of two
At Westminster a minute’s silence is being observed in honour of the victims of yesterday’s attack.
Sam Jones
9.31am GMT
A teacher and mother of two was among those who died in Wednesday’s terror attack in London, it has emerged.
09:31
Aysha Frade, 43, who worked as a teacher in London, had family in the Spanish town of Betanzos, Galicia, northwest Spain.
The Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron was outside Portcullis House, the building which houses MPs offices just next to the Houses of Parliament, as the chaos unfolded on Westminster Bridge.
The mayor of Betanzos, Ramón García Vázquez, confirmed Frade’s death, saying he had been informed very early on Thursday morning.
He said he was meeting his local hospital trust but was about to head to the chamber when the division bell rang for a vote, via the underground tunnel which links two buildings.
“The rumours that started going round last night are sadly true,” he told the Guardian. “I didn’t know her but she has two sisters who run an English school here and other relatives in the area. It’s a tragedy.”
As we went underneath, it was clear the sea of people had suddenly reversed and was heading the other way. There was a noise, retrospectively you might think it was a bang or gunshot but I couldn’t say for sure.
Farron left the building via the MPs’ exit on to the embankment. He said he saw the horror but also “amazing things, the running towards danger of staff at St Thomas”.
Let’s not forget, not least the sacrifice of Keith Palmer, but the others who came to the aid of those suffering, even though doing so was putting themselves in harm’s way.
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8.29am GMT
9.28am GMT
08:29
09:28
Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, told the Today programme:
Yesterday the anti-immigrant right, which in the past has sought to use terror attacks to justify its political stance, was generally silent. The Ukip leader Paul Nuttall put out a statement including a line saying “in the coming hours and days more information will doubtlessly emerge about the attacker or attackers and their motivation” but the press release focused on praising the emergency services and expressing sympathy for the victims.
The police are investigating this man, his associates where he came from, checking urgently whether other people were involved in this, their working assumption is it’s linked to Islamic terrorism.
This morning, though, Leave.EU, the leave campaign run by the Nigel Farage ally and onetime Ukip donor Arron Banks, has put out a lengthy statement essentially blaming the attack on mass immigration. It says:
But they don’t yet know, the investigation - and it is a very large investigation - has been underway ever since the incident started.
We are sick, tired but perhaps even more so we are angry that recent governments across Europe have enabled these attacks through grossly negligible policies that have left us vulnerable. How many times must we #PrayForNice? For Brussels? Berlin? Paris? London? The list is endless.
8.26am GMT
The statement is not attributed to anyone by name.
08:26
9.19am GMT
Fallon: 'London is taking this on the chin'
09:19
Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has been speaking to Radio 4 Today. He said police were “working assumption is that this is linked to islamic terrorism.” Police had been working through the night, he said.
Candlelight vigil in London this evening
Fallon says he will not rule out that the attack was directed from overseas, but says all options are being looked up.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has issued an open invitation to all Londoners and visitors to the capital to a candlelight vigil in Trafalgar Square from 6pm this evening.
They [police] don’t yet have a full enough picture of the man and his known associates who may or may not have helped him prepare the attack.
This is the statement from City Hall:
Fallon says he has pased many people going to work as normal in London this morning, including pupils on school trips, and says parliament will sit as normal at 9.30.
The mayor is asking everyone to come together in solidarity to remember those who have lost their lives, to express sympathy with their families and loved ones and to show the world that we are more committed than ever to the values that we hold dear – that we remain united and open.
London has seen this before and is taking it on the chin.
London is the greatest city in the world. We will never be cowed by terrorism. We stand together, in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will.
8.17am GMT
08:17
Hoyle says he does not want to get into any changes in security, but says he will be chairing the review when it happens.
“We have a duty of care to everyone, including to staff and to you [journalists],” he said.
8.15am GMT
08:15
Deputy speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who announced the attack to MPs in the chamber yesterday afternoon, has been speaking to Sky News this morning.
We had the information an attack was taking place outside, so we asked ‘how serious?’ ‘Really serious.’ So we suspended the sitting immediately, and we were partway through a division [a vote] so there were a lot of MPs in the chamber, which was good news.
Of course, then we went into complete lockdown and no one can go in or out, which is the best thing to happen.
Hoyle said he was devastated by the death of PC Keith Palmer.
We lost one of our own, one of the village policemen. This is our village, to lose a person we all know, is not acceptable. Our thoughts are with his family and the other victims of this hideous crime.
People are doing their duty, he has lost his life serving us and it’s a tragedy that should never have happened. We have got to not give into terrorism. We will pay tribute to what has gone and that tragedy that took place yesterday, but we will not give in to terrorism, and it will never, ever win.
Hoyle said MPs greet the police officers everyday and get to know them well.
They look after us, they put the safety of the house first, they gave their lives to defend democracy.
It will be business as usual, but not quite as usual. Innocent victims, tourists, people going about their business, mown down by a car. These despots will never win. We will stand together and stand firm.
Hoyle says he feels safe every day in parliament. “We have the best police force in the world ... we have great people who look after us and our head of security is second to none and proved it yesterday,” he said. “We lost someone but no one got into parliament.”
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8.00am GMT
9.16am GMT
08:00
09:16
Anushka Asthana
West Midlands police confirm arrests made in Birmingham
MPs are returning to work now in parliament.
West Midlands police have confirmed arrests were made at the addresses raided in Birmingham.
Jess Phillips, chair of the women’s PLP, said that the group of Labour’s female politicians had met a day before with the deputy speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and the head of security in parliament to talk about safety.
A statement from the force said the arrests and searches were intelligence-led and there was no immediate risk to public safety.
“The feeling in the room was very much that we felt safe on the estate. We had more concerns about random attacks in our constituency. During the attack the very next day the security was tested and the feeling of all the MPs inside and outside the building was that still we felt safe,” she said.
Extra officers will be out on patrol throughout the next few days in Birmingham, the force said.
Phillips described the “calm, professional but forceful way the doorkeepers security staff and police handled the situation” to keep staff, MPs and visiting schools and guests safe.
WMP’s assistant chief constable Marcus Beale, who leads on counter-terrorism for the force, said:
“Today we will attend statement to honour Keith Palmer, but to honour him and the sacrifice he made for us we will keep going to our constituency meetings and parliament debates.”
We work tirelessly to counter terrorism. Our absolute priority is to ensure the safety and security of the people who live, work and visit the West Midlands area.
Our policing tactics and security measures are being reviewed on a daily basis – we, along with our partners, are working around the clock to keep Birmingham and our other cities as safe as can be.
Updated
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at 8.24am GMT
at 9.20am GMT
7.59am GMT
9.09am GMT
07:59
09:09
Jessica Elgot
Vikram Dodd
Good morning from London. Here’s what we know from the most recent statement from Scotland Yard’s acting deputy commissioner Mark Rowley.
Birmingham has long been home to violent jihadis attracted to plotting and supporting terrorism.
Rowley revised down the death toll – four people killed in the attack in Westminster yesterday, including the killer and parliament police officer Keith Palmer.
The chief constable of the West Midlands, Dave Thompson, has said that the area was second only to London for the number of terror plots linked to it.
Two other victims, who Rowley said were a mix of nationalities, were killed on Westminster bridge, a man and a woman.
In a Guardian interview last year, Thompson said the rise of Isis, which he referred to as Daesh, had led to a very high “intensity and determination” of terrorist threat, he said.
This morning, there are 29 people being treated in hospital, seven in a critical condition, which is also revised down from yesterday, when police said 40 were injured.
Thompson said there were differences between how al-Qaida had tried to attract British recruits and Isis’s approach. Key to this was Isis’s declaration of a hardline, pan-national Islamist state.
Police have searched six addresses in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country, and made seven arrests.
There is something around the concept of Daesh, the concept of a caliphate that is drawing people to that. And I think there is a greater sophistication in the approach taken to radicalise people through more digital means, and I think that has driven a different face of the challenge we’ve faced over the last few years.”
They believe this attacker “acted alone and inspired by international terrorism”.
The Hagley Road area of Bearwood, where one raid by police took place, is close to the Birmingham city centre, barely a mile away.
Rowley said he had no specific information about any further risk to the public, but repeated that more officers were on the streets - armed and unarmed - and that many had leave cancelled or were working extended hours.
The area is a “large and complex crime scene” that officers are still working on.
Rowley said he would not identify the attacker or other victims at this stage - because the victims were a mix of nationalities.
He said he realised journalists would be investigating too, but asked them not to name the attacker.
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at 9.16am GMT
7.56am GMT
9.06am GMT
07:56
09:06
Claire Phipps
Andrew Sparrow
I’m handing over the blog now to my colleague Jessica Elgot, who’ll continue to bring you latest news on the attack, as MPs return to Westminster.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has been giving interviews about the Westminster attack this morning. Here are some of the points he made.
Khan refused to directly hit back at Donald Trump Jr, who used a tweet yesterday to criticise Khan for a comment he made last year about terror attacks being “part and parcel of living in a big city”. Trump’s comments have been strongly criticised. Here is the tweet.
You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan https://t.co/uSm2pwRTjO
Asked about this tweet Khan said:
I’m not going to respond to tweets by Donald Trump. What I will say is this: the threat level in London and our country remains the same. It’s severe. That means, according to the experts, an attack is highly likely. The commissioner who just retired said last year that, as far as an attack was concerned, it was a matter of when, not if. Thankfully the police and security services practise for such incidents. One, I’m afraid, happened yesterday.
He said policing in London was constantly evolving as new threats emerged.
One of the reasons I believe our police service, our security services, are the best in the world is we evolve and adapt as the terrorists, those who seek to harm us, evolve and adapt and find new ways to kill us and destroy our way of live. So you have seen across London bollards, in lay person’s terms, for the additional security measures that have been taken over the last couple of years now. You have seen the additional searches done by the police when it comes to vehicles and when it comes to intelligence-led stop and search. That’s going to carry on. And you will see over the last 24 hours additional measures taken.
He said we must not let terrorists destroy our way of life.
We must never accept terrorists being successful. We must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives. We must never accept politicians not being accessible to the public. We must never accept a situation where people try and divide Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus from each other, of those who are not members of organised faiths. We must never accept a situation where people can incite hatred against people because of the faith they belong to.
When you think about why terrorists want to attack London, it’s because they hate the fact that we don’t simply tolerate each other, whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, member of an organised faith or not, we respect, embrace and celebrate each other. And that’s going to carry on.
I’m Andrew Sparrow. I will be blogging today with my colleague Jessica Elgot, who has been running the blog until now.
Updated
at 9.25am GMT
9.01am GMT
09:01
The Guardian’s Scotland editor, Severin Carrell, reports that Holyrood will hold a minute’s silence this morning.
@ScotParl to hold one minute's silence at 09.33 today in solidarity with dead at #Westminster pic.twitter.com/s605RcJkgL
