Peer tells of traumatic scene as Parliament evacuated

A YORKSHIRE peer has spoken of his shock at witnessing the aftermath of the attack on Parliament which left a policeman dead in the courtyard outside.

Lord Scriven was taken past the scene as he and hundreds others in Parliament at the time of the attack were escorted first to Central Lobby and then across Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey.

He said: “As we were being taken through Parliament we passed New Palace Yard, past exactly where the shooting and stabbing had taken place and there was clearly a body under a white sheet as we passed.

“It brought home in absolute stark terms that their probably lay a person who had been protecting us a couple of hours ago and now his family were never going to see him walk through the door again.

“It made you understand the sacrifice and just exactly on a day to basis what the police and security forces do to keep not just Parliament safe but our way of life across the country safe. “That was very traumatic.” Lord Scriven said the crowd at Westminster Abbey included fellow peers, MPs and visitors to Parliament and even schoolchildren.

“I felt really sorry for them. They had come to look at Parliament and democracy and ended up in the middle of what was quite a traumatic event for them,” he said.

The former Sheffield City Council leader returned to Parliament yesterday.

“I was absolutely resolute there is no way a sick, perverted murderer was going to knock my determination to do the right thing which was to remember the hundreds of heroes and carry on our lives as normal to make sure they didn’t die in vain,” Lord Scriven said.