MPs are to be offered security guards to protect their constituency surgeries after the death of Conservative MP Sir David Amess last week.
The Home Office launched a review into MPs’ safety after Sir David was killed during a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, five years after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in similar circumstances.
A court heard that 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali, who has been charged with the Conservative MP’s murder, purportedly first plotted to kill an MP two years ago.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) alleges the murder has a terrorist connection because of its “religious and ideological” motives.
He will appear in a crown court dock for the first time on Friday after being remanded in custody.
Sir David, who was 69, had been MP for Southend West for 38 years having first entered Parliament in 1983, and leaves behind his wife Julia and their five children.
In a letter from Home Secretary Priti Patel and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to MPs, first reported by The Times newspaper, they say politicians will be “rightly concerned about their own safety and security and that of their staff” following Sir David’s killing.
Ms Patel and Sir Lindsay add that a “trained and accredited security operative” will be available to attend constituency surgeries from Friday and “urge” MPs’ to “take up this service”.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, the home secretary told the Commons that intelligence officers had upgraded the threat level for MPs to “substantial”, meaning a fresh attack is deemed likely.
Sir David Amess was killed as he held a surgery at a church in his Essex constituency
Ms Patel said there had been a “change in risk” after an independent review by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) in the wake of the fatal stabbing of Sir…
Source : skynews
