| | | Home Office announces £31m package of measures to protect MPs facing threats – UK politics live
Home Office announces £31m package of measures to protect MPs facing threats – UK politics live (msn.com)
LIVE – Updated at 09:50
The investment to improve parliamentarians’ security will include a dedicated police contact to liaise with over safety concerns.
Home Office announces £31m package of measures to protect MPs facing threats
09:50
Good morning. A week after Sir Lindsay Hoyle up-ended Commons procedural rules in the Gaza debate, partly because he had been persuaded that not allowing a vote on the Labour amendment would increase the risk to MPs having to vote on the SNP’s motion but not theirs, the government has announced a significant package of measures to improve parliamentarians’ security. The details don’t seem to be on the Home Office’s website yet, but PA Media has a good summary.
Security measures for MPs will be bolstered with a £31m package that will include providing elected politicians with a dedicated police contact to liaise with over safety issues.
James Cleverly, the home secretary, who made the funding announcement, will meet with police chiefs on Wednesday to discuss what more can be done to improve the safety of MPs.
He said no MP should have to accept that threats or harassment is “part of the job”.
The extra funding follows fears about MPs being targeted and intimidated by demonstrators in recent months, particularly by those demanding action to bring an end to the fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.
Conservative backbencher Tobias Ellwood’s home was targeted earlier this month by pro-Palestine protesters, with the police warning his family to “stay away” from the property as “arriving through that crowd would’ve antagonised the situation”.
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have also had their family homes set upon by environmental protesters in past months.
The Home Office said the latest funding package will provide increased security provisions for MPs.
The investment will be used to enhance police capabilities, increase private sector security provisions for those facing a higher risk and to expand cyber security advice to locally elected representatives.
It will also ensure all elected representatives and candidates have a dedicated named police contact to liaise with on security matters, officials said.
Cleverly’s department said the measures would significantly expand the support provided under current policing arrangements for politicians.
The home secretary will hold a roundtable with the National Police Chiefs’ Council today to discuss efforts to “protect democratic processes from intimidation, disruption or subversion”, his aides said.
The announcement includes the establishment of a communities fund to support the deployment of additional police patrols each week in England and Wales to help deal with “increased community tensions”, the Home Office said.
It is designed to increase support available to vulnerable communities, increase police visibility and boost public confidence, the department added.
Two serving MPs — Labour’s Jo Cox and Conservative Sir David Amess — have been murdered in the past eight years, with reforms to the security of parliamentarians having been introduced as a result of those killings.
Changes have included improvements to existing security measures at MPs’ homes and offices, and the bringing in additional private sector-delivered protective security where necessary.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Huw Merriman, the rail minister, gives evidence to the Commons transport committee.
10.30am: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, holds a press conference on poverty.
12pm: Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.
12.30pm: Farmers are staging a protest outside the Senedd in Cardiff against the Welsh government’s sustainable farming plans. |
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