MPs have said the Carriage Gate, scene of Wednesday’s deadly attack, was the weak spot in parliamentary security as Defence Secretary Michael Fallon insists a review will take place.
The attack, which led to five deaths and 40 injuries, took place first near, and then at and through, the Carriage Gate into New Palace Yard.
The gate is usually guarded by only four officers and left ajar because it is in constant use.
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“It’s a terrible, terrible day for Parliament, the one weak spot on our estate is those carriage gates,” Labour MP Mary Creagh said.
“We have four police officers there, two on the gate going in, two on the gate going out, we see them every day, we are friends with lots of them.”
One officer on the gate, Keith Palmer, died from stab wounds at the scene following the attack.
“I think we will need to look at security at the Palace [of Westminster] in the wake of this incident, but that is a plan for another day,” Creagh said.
“I think tonight we need to be remembering all those who have been caught up in today’s tragic events.”
Conservative Iain Duncan Smith told the Telegraph he it was a “little bit of a surprise” the officers on the gate were unarmed.
Former civil service Chief Lord Kerslake called for “a complete overhaul of security from top to bottom.”
On Thursday, Fallon told the BBC that a review would be carried out but that “Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed, people are coming and going all the time.”
“Obviously this is something that will be reviewed by the house authorities,” he said, adding that these kind of low-tech, lone wolf attacks were “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.”
