November 14, 2007: New Security Measures

Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated much had been done to keep people safe in crowded public spaces, but more work will be needed over the coming months. In his statement on national security, he referred to a study by Lord West on the protection of strategic infrastructure, stations, ports and airports - and of other crowded places - which, he said, identified a need to step up physical protection against possible vehicle bomb attacks. Although train stations may be safer now than they have been in years, they were nonetheless obvious targets, so special attention would be paid to making them safer. Plans include:

• new security barriers
• vehicle exclusion zones
• stronger, blast-resistant buildings
• bag screening devices in larger stations

Mr Brown said a full national security strategy will be published in the coming weeks, and a new counter-terrorism bill is also being drawn up. More work will also be done to help local communities protect themselves from acts of terrorism. Actions to be taken include:

• increasing funding to local counter-terrorism security advisers, who work with businesses and local governments
• encouraging design innovation, so that architects and planners take security into account when building large new structures
• working harder to ensure the critical national infrastructure is kept safe

Mr Brown stated that from the Home Office budget, from now until 2011, an additional £240 million would finance counter terrorism policing. This will include funding for further training of 3,500 neighbourhood police teams to deal with radicalisation in their local communities. In addition, around £400 million over the next three years would be invested through the Foreign Office, Department for International Development and the British Council to tackle radicalisation and promote understanding overseas. In total, he argued, the government was now investing three times as much in security as compared with 6 years ago.

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