22/03/2017 Reporting Scotland

Holyrood is tonight reeling from the terrorist

attack on its sister parliament at Westminster.

News of the attack came as MSPs debated asking for powers to hold

a referendum on independence - that debate was halted just before

4:00 this afternoon, as news from London filtered

Our political editor Brian Taylor reports.

Nicola Sturgeon and her deputy arrived ready to continue the

debate. Then first reports from Westminster began to emerge. The

Tories debated whether things could continue. Might it not be more

appropriate for this debate to be suspended until the situation big --

became clearer? The initial verdict was... It has been decided to carry

on with business as usual. The news from Westminster grew steadily

worse. The decision was made -- taken to close down debate for the

day. The fact that our sister Parliament has had a serious

incident is affecting this particular debate, and affecting the

contribution of members. So it is for that reason we have decided to

suspend the setting. Politics just fades into the background on a day

like today. Clearly so many people in the Scottish Parliament have

friends, colleagues in Westminster, many people in Scotland have friends

working in London, and therefore as a mark of respect, not because of

any increased threat to the Scottish parliament, but as a mark of respect

and solidarity, the decision to suspend business was the right one.

Most MSP supported the decision. Everyone's very worried about what's

happening down at Westminster, and it seems more appropriate to suspend

until we know more details. Some things are more important than

politics? Absolutely. This is an attack on us all, and -- and until

there is any clarity, I think the sensible thing to do is to suspend.

It doesn't look good, given the important matter we are discussing

right now, to press ahead with that in the face of what is an alarming

and potentially very tragic situation down south. But some

dissenters. This is terrible news, but we should never give in to

terrorism, and I think it was a mistake to suspend the business of

Parliament on what is an important decision for Scotland. MSPs will

decide tomorrow when to resume their decision for Scotland. MSPs will

debate. But this course will resume in Edinburgh and in London. At the

Palace of Westminster, crisis, a lockdown. At Holyrood, a silent

chamber and safety first security. Democracy requiring vigilance.

Our political correspondent Nick Eardley was on the streets

Here's his report into how events unfolded.

Terror at the heart of British democracy.

One of London's busiest tourist spots.

At the moment it is not clear what is going on behind me.

We have just seen police darting along there, and what looked

like ministerial cars being rushed away.

An incident the police are treating as a terror attack.

Within minutes of reported gunshots, the scene outside

There are reports that someone has been shot.

Armed police flooding into Parliament, Westminster

On the other side of this iconic building, a car hit members

a man armed with a knife tried to enter parliament.

Four were killed, among them a police officer.

This guy took the police by surprise and ran through and took one

policeman down, and as another one approached he got up

and he had a knife and that is when I heard gunfire.

Order, order, I am now going to suspend the sitting of the house.

The SNP's Westminster leader sits on the joint intelligence committee.

In these circumstances I think it is important to reflect that

whether they were police officers or security staff from

the Palace of Westminster, they were there to help everybody

and that is what they were trying to do, and when everybody else

is being told to run away from danger, those are the people

who are running into the face of danger, and it is

would be prepared to put their lives on the line

It's been about five hours now since those first scenes of panic. MPs,

peers and their staff are giving statements to the police. We are all

able to walk out of here tonight in darkness because a police officer's

put his life on the line so that we can go home safely. You feel

genuinely upset, and your heart goes out to the people are impacted by

it, but we will be back in there tomorrow. It is a democracy, and we

will not let this impact what we do. Tonight Westminster

remains in lockdown, on the European

Parliament in Brussels. It appears democracy is the target

of terrorism once again. Nick joins us now from our

studio at Westminster. A shocking day, Nick - give us

a sense of what's happening now. It is eerily quiet, the street just

outside the BBC office here that you saw in the film there would normally

be busy with traffic, with people heading home, even at this late

hour. It is completely deserted, the only thing I could see just before I

came in to speak to you just know was a police boat going up and down

the Thames. The streets around Westminster are still cordoned off,

they are still in something of a state of lockdown. Parliament

itself, we have heard from police, in the last half hour has been

lifted out of that state of lockdown, but it will be many hours,

perhaps days, before this part of the city returns to normal.

We saw in your film a moment ago Calum Kerr saying that today's

events won't impact on the work members of Parliament do -

It's quite an extraordinary thing that sometimes in the face of

attacks like this people are so defined. I spoke to a few MPs

tonight who very much echoed that sentiment, but whatever's happened

in Westminster today, they will be back at work tomorrow, ready to do

what they do. Quite often we hear in politics about the tensions, about

the arguments, about the things we don't like about politicians.

Tomorrow I think you will see a sense of unity, across parties,

across Parliament in the UK as well. Saying that whatever our

differences, whatever our opinions people might have that don't match

up, they stand for democracy first and foremost. It's not just

politicians tonight will be recovering from what has happened,

there will be members of the public, there will be tourists. But there is

a real sense tonight that tomorrow London will get a buzz normal. It

has seen something like this before, life will go on.

being emphasised that there's no intelligence to suggest

Glenn Campbell reports now on how parliaments are protected.

Whether it's Westminster or here at Holyrood,

parliaments in the UK do take security really seriously.

When this building was going up, they changed

the design to add in this

massive blast wall of solid concrete, and that change was made

following the terrorist attacks on the United States on 9/11.

In the years since then, security has been kept

For instance, these bollards have been added

to the defence of architecture on the Parliamentary estate,

and I think I'm right in saying that happened

following the attack on Glasgow Airport.

The most recent change, though, it is the addition of a new,

public entrance to the Scottish Parliament.

This block has been added on, taking airport-style

security screening away from the main building.

Let's talk to somebody who knows about security,

a man in charge of policing this area of Edinburgh at one point.

How hard is it for police and security services to keep

It's constantly evolving, and the plan has to be refined

literally week on week, gathering information

about not only what is happening in the UK,

but in Europe and other parts of the world.

The plan will be refined and rehearsed constantly.

Will today's incident make a difference?

Will it change the way Parliaments and other public

Once we find that what has happened and analyse it,

But it's not just policing that evolves -

and their staff also keep their personal

Let'ss talk about personal safety with two newly elected MSPs.

Ross Thomson, what has your experience been

I was a new MSP in May, and it has been a learning curve

and you do not expect to think about your own personal security.

You expect to learn everything else about the building,

We have had some incidents of people coming off the street and I am quite

but for the staff who work in my office it is not fair.

We have to be accessible, but you also have to take

into account that personal security element.

You have served at Westminster, have you ever felt unsafe doing your job?

You have to accept it as part of the job.

I have had several death threats over the years,

I had a shooting threat against me at my office previously.

But like Ross said, it is important to reflect on the security risks,

but also the risks to all the staff and the staff who work in and around

It's those I think our thoughts have to be with today.

There is a balance to be struck between the security

and debate about that will intensify following today's attack.

with the weather outlook for tonight and tomorrow.

Well, fairly wet tonight across central and southern parts of the

country, but that rain easing away. It will take a well though, because

the low pressure responsible is pushing southwards over the next few

days, being replaced by high pressure. So we have a change in

weather type to something generally dry, bright, sunny, and increasingly

warm. That rain over the next few hours, it will tend to fizzle away

by dawn, leaving a legacy of cloud to start the day across the south,

and still one or two spots of rain around. Anywhere from Ayrshire

eastwards towards the Borders, perhaps fringing into parts of the

Central Belt. Further north it is a bright, sunny morning, but a cold

morning with a frost. It will be bright, sunny morning, but a cold

chilly, despite sunny skies. Similar for Orkney and Shetland, perhaps a

few showers fringing in across northern parts. Through the course

of the morning and into the afternoon tomorrow, the cloudy

weather continues to improve with some sunshine coming through, and

the winds reasonably light and the sunshine will make it feel OK.

Across the UK as a whole the wet weather we've had today, anywhere

from Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex. North of this,

the Midlands, East Anglia, and Northern Ireland, dry and bright,

and similar for Scotland. Temperatures up to ten and 11 in the

South West. Into the evening, largely dry but it will be a clear

and a cold night. For Friday, high pressure in charge so most of us

having a dry, fine day. A few spots of light rain at times, but most of

the Central lowlands and South, plasma, ten, 11 Celsius. Perhaps

even 12 for some. High pressure for the weekend, staying with us.

Increasingly warm, perhaps temperatures into the mid-teens for

the weekend. Our next update is during Breakfast

at 6:25 tomorrow morning. But from everyone on the late

team here in Glasgow