This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
London attack: police confirm seven people arrested – live
London attack: Theresa May says Westminster assailant was British-born and known to MI5 – live
(35 minutes later)
10.11am GMT
10.49am GMT
10:11
10:49
The Conservative MP Gavin Barwell has written a good post about yesterday’s attack on his blog . Here’s an extract.
Corbyn says the injured include people from 10 nationalities. We send them our best wishes, he says.
It was also an attack on your parliament. Make no mistake: it is your parliament. One of my favourite parts of the job is showing constituents around the building. Although sadly it behaves like a private members club at times, it is the place where the people you choose to represent you come together to decide how we should go forward as a country. For all its faults, it is at the centre of our national life and that is why it was targeted yesterday ...
He urges people to look after each other, to help one another and think of one another.
I spent nearly five hours yesterday locked in the chamber and voting lobbies of the House of Commons with about 350 other MPs. We watched the news on TV, shared mobile phone chargers so that we could reassure loved ones we were ok and talked about the work we do. It was a reminder that although we spend most of our time arguing about Brexit, austerity, the future of our Union and so many other things, those arguments obscure the fact that there is more that unites us than divides us. We are all committed to democracy, to the idea that the way we resolve our differences is through debate, sometime passionate argument, but never violence. If politics sometimes frustrates you (it certainly frustrates me at times), that is something worth holding onto, indeed something worth giving your life to defend - as PC Keith Palmer did so heroically yesterday.
It is by looking after each other that we will defeat the poison and hatred.
9.54am GMT
10.47am GMT
09:54
10:47
Severin Carrell
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is responding.
The Scottish parliament’s debate and vote on calling for a new independence referendum will resume on Tuesday 28 March – the day before Theresa May triggers article 50 to begin the Brexit process.
He says we are united by the human impulse of solidarity.
That vote on Tuesday evening will almost certainly give Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, Holyrood’s approval to ask May for the legal powers to stage the referendum just before the prime minister begins the process for leaving the UK.
He praises PC Keith Palmer.
The final 90 minutes of debate and the vote on Sturgeon’s referendum motion, plus four opposition party amendments, were suspended at 15.55 on Wednesday in solidarity with the Westminster parliament after the terror attacks.
We thank the police who keep us safe, he says. The police and security staff lost a colleague, but continue to do their duty.
With its flags flying at half mast, Holyrood’s business bureau met on Thursday morning but opted not to abandon today’s sessions to resume the referendum debate immediately.
We see the police every day, he says. When dangerous incidents take place, we run away. But they run towards danger, he says.
Instead, there will be a ministerial statement on childcare and a debate on British sign language.
He also praises Tobias Ellwood for using his skill yesterday to try to save PC Palmer’s life.
@ScotParl confirms #indyref2 debate and vote now on Tuesday 28 March; party leaders to use #FMQs to mark #Westminster attack pic.twitter.com/hnEqeS6CRm
10.45am GMT
10:45
John Bercow says MPs have been joined today in the gallery by the French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault.
Bercow says that MPs appreciate his presence and solidarity.
Updated
Updated
at 9.56am GMT
at 10.48am GMT
9.52am GMT
10.44am GMT
09:52
10:44
Jon Henley
May says yesterday we saw the worst of humanity. But we will remember the best.
French authorities have launched an inquiry into the London attack after it became clear three French schoolchildren were wounded, two of them seriously.
We will remember the efforts to save PC Keith Palmer’s life, including by Tobias Ellwood.
The counter-terrorism section of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into “attempted assassination related to a terrorist enterprise”.
She pays tribute to the emergency services. That they have lost one of their own only makes their calmness and professionalism all the more remarkable.
The investigation, which is standard procedure in France when French nationals are victims of violence abroad, is in the hands of the DGSI internal intelligence agency.
She says the greatest response lies in the actions of ordinary people.
The children were part of a group on a week-long visit to London from the Saint-Joseph de Concarneau lycée in Brittany.
Millions of people are going about their ordinary lives, she says.
About a dozen members of the group, aged 15 to 16, are believed to have been on Westminster Bridge when the Hyundai car ploughed into them.
People will be boarding buses and trains to come to London as she speaks, she says, to see the best city on earth.
This is the response that shows we will never give in to terrorism.
It is the same spirit that drove a husband and father to put himself between us and th attack, and to pay the ultimate price.
Let this be the message for us today; our values will prevail.
10.40am GMT
10:40
May says British-born attacker was known to MI5 and had been investigated before, as 'peripheral figure'
May says she chaired a Cobra committee last night.
The threat level remains at “severe”. That means an attack is highly likely. But it will not be raised to the next level, because there is no intelligence that an attack is imminent.
She says police have been working through the night to establish all they can about the attack.
They have searched six addresses in London and Birmingham and eight people have been arrested.
May says the attacker was “British-born”
May says attacker was known to MI5.
He was investigated some years ago in relation to extremist terrorism. But he was a “peripheral figure”.
Updated
Updated
at 9.57am GMT
at 10.47am GMT
9.48am GMT
10.38am GMT
09:48
10:38
Andrew Sparrow
May says there is a limit to what she can say because of the police investigation.
The Commons is now sitting in the normal way. Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, is taking questions. It is not quite “business as usual”, because some of the roads around the Houses of Parliament remain closed, and New Palace Yard, where PC Keith Palmer was stabbed, is still being treated as a crime scene, and forensic officers are currently at work on the site. But MPs, peers and other who work on the parliamentary estate (such as journalists like myself) have been able to come into the building without hindrance.
But she can set out the basic facts. She says an attacker drove a car at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.
Those injured include: 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian, one American and two Greeks.
Then the attacker tried to enter parliament. PC Keith Palmer was killed.
Updated
Updated
at 10.02am GMT
at 10.42am GMT
9.46am GMT
10.35am GMT
09:46
10:35
Vikram Dodd
Theresa May is speaking now.
There is already concern that policing is being stretched by the extra resources needed after the Westminster attack.
She says a terrorist attack tried to disrupt democracy yesterday. But today MPs are carrying on as usual.
Those extra demands are affecting not only the Met but forces outside the capital.
This was an attack on free people everywhere, she says.
In one force outside London, firearms officers finished an extended shift late on Wednesday, only to be recalled for an early start on Thursday.
She thanks friends around the world who have said they stand by the UK.
Annual leave has been cancelled and officers are working extended shift patterns, up from eight hours to about 12 hours and sometimes more.
The events sickened us all, she says.
Updated
Updated
at 10.00am GMT
at 10.45am GMT
9.46am GMT
10.34am GMT
09:46
10:34
MacKey says he was a witness to the attack on PC Palmer and said it was his duty to secure his evidence before taking over the lead on the investigation.
John Bercow's statement
9.45am GMT
John Bercow, the Speaker, is making his own statement first.
09:45
He expresses condolences to the family and friends of victims of this outrage.
MacKey urges anyone in the city if they are concerned or worried to approach the police and talk to them. His voice is cracking as he says the response is large and covers all of London and all parts of national government.
He says PC Keith Palmer was killed defending MPs, parliament and parliamentary democracy.
MacKey says the work done over many years, practising for scenarios like this, has helped but nothing prepares families for when events like this happen.
Our hearts go out to all those touched by events yesterday.
He will attend the cabinet’s Cobra committee later this morning.
He thanks staff of the Commons and MPs’ staff for their forbearance.
He says steps have been taken to keep the Commons safe.
In time the House of Commons commission, and its Lords counterpart, will review if more needs to be done.
He says the house has been able to carry on its business today undisturbed.
Updated
Updated
at 10.01am GMT
at 10.37am GMT
9.43am GMT
10.32am GMT
09:43
10:32
Craig Mackey, the Met’s acting commissioner, is speaking now to gathered staff and journalists.
Two patients in St Thomas' hospital - both stable
He says the support of Londoners has been invaluable and ensures the police can do the job they are entrusted to do. Mackey says he is leading the response and the investigation is ongoing.
Two patients are being treated at St Thomas’ hospital following yesterday’s security incident in Westminster – one man and one woman. Both patients are in a stable condition.
9.38am GMT
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, said:
09:38
I would like to thank all staff who were involved in the response to the terrible event yesterday. The Trust’s major incident procedures have worked well, and there has been an excellent response from both clinical and non-clinical staff.
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.
My thoughts are with all affected by this appalling tragedy.
Cressida Dick, the incoming Met commissioner, Craig Mackay, the acting commissioner and other officers held a minute’s silence in front of the “eternal flame” alight outside New Scotland Yard on Victoria embankment, within sight of Westminster bridge.
The new headquarters was set to be formally opened by the Queen on Thursday but the ceremony was cancelled.
Updated
Updated
at 9.42am GMT
at 10.34am GMT
9.35am GMT
10.31am GMT
09:35
10:31
The Commons chamber is packed. MPs are standing to observe the silence.
Theresa May's statement to MPs
Theresa May is about to address MPs.
PM has taken her seat for her statement - watch live on @BBCParliament and BBC news
10.27am GMT
10:27
Rajeev Syal
The Metropolitan police and the parliamentary authorities are reviewing security arrangements around the Palace of Westminster after a knife-wielding terrorist was able to access the estate.
Focus will fall upon Carriage Gates, the vehicle entrance opening on to Parliament Square that is usually used by vehicles bearing ministers and selected staff.
Witnesses said the attacker crashed his car into the estate’s fence before running through Carriage Gates carrying two knives. He is said to have fatally attacked PC Keith Palmer, one of the unarmed officers patrolling near the gates, before being gunned down by armed officers.
Unarmed officers such as PC Palmer act as the public face of parliament at the entrance, whose imposing iron gates are the symbol of the estate.
These officers are not just the first line of defence but are often seen posing for pictures with tourists keen to take their photographs with a clear view of Victoria Tower, known as Big Ben.
Any review will examine procedures at the gates, which are often left unlocked or ajar because they are in frequent use.
Armed officers are usually seen several yards behind the unarmed officers. But just 50 yards beyond them on the other side of New Palace Yard, MPs and ministers can be seen frequently walking to and fro from parliament’s offices and the House of Commons’ chamber.
The dilemma for the security forces and the parliamentary authorities has been the same since the building was first established on the banks of the Thames in the 11th century: how to provide safety without infringing the right of the public to turn up and lobby their constituency MP.
A senior parliamentary officer confirmed this morning that a security review is under way.The details of the review will remain confidential.
There are already airport-style checks at some parliamentary entrances,including those at St Stephen’s Gate and Portcullis House, the new building housing most MPs’ offices. There are no such checks at Carriage Gates.
Updated
Updated
at 9.38am GMT
at 10.40am GMT
9.34am GMT
09:34
At Westminster a minute’s silence is being observed in honour of the victims of yesterday’s attack.
9.31am GMT
09:31
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.
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.
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.
Updated
at 9.34am GMT
9.28am GMT
09:28
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.
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:
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.
The statement is not attributed to anyone by name.
9.19am GMT
09:19
Candlelight vigil in London this evening
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.
This is the statement from City Hall:
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 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.
Updated
at 9.22am GMT
9.16am GMT
09:16
West Midlands police confirm arrests made in Birmingham
West Midlands police have confirmed arrests were made at the addresses raided in Birmingham.
A statement from the force said the arrests and searches were intelligence-led and there was no immediate risk to public safety.
Extra officers will be out on patrol throughout the next few days in Birmingham, the force said.
WMP’s assistant chief constable Marcus Beale, who leads on counter-terrorism for the force, said:
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
at 9.20am GMT
9.09am GMT
09:09
Vikram Dodd
Birmingham has long been home to violent jihadis attracted to plotting and supporting terrorism.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
The Hagley Road area of Bearwood, where one raid by police took place, is close to the Birmingham city centre, barely a mile away.
Updated
at 9.16am GMT
9.06am GMT
09:06
Andrew Sparrow
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
