OPERATION
How First Minister’s security has been DOUBLED after brutal killing of MP Jo Cox
NICOLA Sturgeon’s police security has been doubled in the wake of the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Police Scotland has had to review the number of officers protecting the First Minister in response to a growing number of threats against politicians.
It also plans to visit every MSP’s constituency or regional office to conduct a review of security, according to letters obtained from the Scottish parliament via Freedom of Information.
An online threat to shoot the First Minister was made in June – the same month as the murder of Mrs Cox.
After the MP’s death in Yorkshire, Miss Sturgeon talked down the prospect of increased protection, insisting barriers should not be placed between politicians and the people they serve.
But police reviewed the security of her and other Cabinet Ministers and decided it needed to be increased, particularly in public. Although the level of police protection varies depending on the event, it was doubled recently when the First Minister was a guest speaker.
The advice from the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) urges politicians to consider installing panic alarms; plot an escape route in advance of public meetings; remove potential weapons, such as letter openers; and even to take off clothes such as scarves, which could be used ‘to cause harm’.
The overhaul of security has also been extended to councillors. A Police Scotland letter warned: ‘As a councillor, you should have a raised awareness of personal safety, encompassing your own personal safety, the safety of your family members and, where appropriate, the safety of your staff.
‘However, it is not always possible for you to control your physical environment. For example, you may meet your constituents in the street or other public places, so you need to adopt a pragmatic approach to personal safety.’
Mrs Cox was shot and stabbed outside a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, where she was about to hold a constituency surgery.
Thomas Mair, originally from Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, was charged with her murder and is set to stand trial later this year. In the days after the murder, the First Minister expressed her sympathies while also warning against an over-reaction.
Speaking at a British and Irish Council meeting in June, she said: ‘As politicians, we all value and are deeply committed to the openness and accessibility of elected representatives to the people we serve that is in very many ways the hallmark of our democracy.’
In August, an inquiry was launched after more than two dozen MPs, including several Scots, were sent an email with the chilling message: ‘I will kill you and your family.’
It included an image of a beheaded man and the subject line ‘warning’.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell recently revealed he had been given additional police security in the wake of a ‘credible’ threat against him.
Central Scotland Labour MSP Monica Lennon was singled out during the independence referendum, when she was followed from a street stall by a man in his fifties shouting abuse. She said yesterday: ‘The brutal murder of Jo Cox undoubtedly prompted a closer look at security. I see this as an ongoing challenge for the Scottish parliament, Police Scotland and political parties. Street harassment and online abuse does go on and women in political life often bear the brunt of it.’
Since being elected in May 2015, Nationalist MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh has been reduced to tears by racist abuse, with more than 100 examples from letters and online correspondence handed to police.
Becky Thomson, head of security at the Scottish Parliament, said MSPs had received letters about security on July 7 and September 5.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnston said: ‘Police Scotland is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all our MPs, MSPs and elected officials, which is particularly relevant following the murder of MP Jo Cox.
‘While we cannot talk about specific cases, Police Scotland, along with other forces throughout the UK, has provided proportionate security advice to elected officials. There is no specific information which suggests Scotland is at risk of attack. But the UK threat level remains at severe and our communities are not immune from the threat of an attack.’
‘Women in politics bear the brunt of it’