‘No complacency’ about coronation safety after Buckingham Palace arrest

The authorities is “in no way complacent” about safety surrounding the King’s coronation after a person was arrested exterior Buckingham Palace in a single day, the safety minister has mentioned.

Tom Tugendhat added that he’s “very proud of the response” to the incident.

A person was arrested after throwing what’s suspected to be shotgun cartridges into palace grounds, the Metropolitan Police mentioned.

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A precautionary managed explosion was carried out exterior the palace and the person was held on suspicion of the possession of an offensive weapon, the pressure added.

Officers mentioned a knife was discovered on him however he didn’t possess a gun.

Mr Tugendhat instructed Kay Burley on Sky News: “I’m very glad to see that the police reacted extremely rapidly, extremely professionally, to the incident final night time.

“We’re in no way complacent. And I’m very, very proud of the response that the police have done.

“The intelligence providers, the police and others have been engaged on this extraordinarily successfully for months.”

Buckingham Palace confirmed neither the King nor Queen Consort had been on the palace on the time of the incident.

Scotland Yard mentioned they aren’t treating the incident as terror-related.

Asked how a lot safety for the coronation would value the taxpayer, Mr Tugendhat was unable to provide a determine.

He mentioned: “It’s very difficult to pull that out as a separate figure for the simple reason that we’ve got an enormous amount of effort going in for a major incident like this in different parts of the country – because there are people getting together in streets, there’s people getting together in gatherings across the country because this is a moment of national celebration.

“What I feel is price taking a look at, although, is how a lot that is bringing to the nation by way of the variety of vacationers who’re coming, the quantity of consideration that’s coming and certainly, I hope, the quantity of enterprise that will probably be generated by heads of state and authorities and different enterprise folks coming to the UK at the moment to see what we provide.”

Pressed on figures of no less than £100m only for safety, Mr Tugendhat mentioned: “It’s not a figure that I recognise, sorry.”

He mentioned: “Forgive me for not being able to break it down at this point.

“The cause I do not need to do that’s as a result of there’s police forces across the nation who’re doing various things and reply barely in another way by their very own completely different constructions.”

He said he did not have a number for how much it was costing the Metropolitan Police, but added: “What I’ve been doing is ensuring that the Met are prepared, and meaning getting ready with them and the National Crime Agency and the intelligence providers to ensure they’ve all of the sources they want.

“We have spent an awful lot of time over the last several months preparing for any number of different threats because the reality is this is a very complex event.”