Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked all police forces to immediately review security arrangements for MPs following the death of Sir David Amess.
Following the killing of Sir David at his constituency surgery in Essex on Friday afternoon, Ms Patel chaired a meeting of police, security and intelligence agencies and also spoke to House of Commons’ Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
“The home secretary has asked all police forces to review security arrangements for MPs with immediate effect and will provide updates in due course,” a spokesman for Ms Patel said.
Sir David died after being stabbed at a surgery – where MPs offer face-to-face meetings with constituents – in his Southend West constituency in Leigh-on-Sea.
Sir Lindsay also promised to “examine” safety measures for MPs following the killing of Sir David, but cautioned against a “kneejerk reaction”.
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He described himself as “shocked and deeply distressed” by Sir David’s death – the second killing of an MP in their own constituency in little more than five years.
Sir Lindsay told Sky News that he had gone ahead with his own constituency surgery on Friday following the news of Sir David’s death.
“Nothing will stop democracy, nothing will stop us carrying out our duties,” he said. “Those people who don’t value the job that we do, those people who don’t support us will not win – hence why I’ve had my surgery tonight.”
Sir Lindsay said he would continue to “look at” security measures, adding: “We won’t sit back on our laurels, of course we know the challenges.
“We’ve got to protect MPs and allow them to carry out their duties. The duties that the electorate put them there for – to speak, to meet and to make sure that their views are conveyed to parliament.”
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Sister of Jo Cox in shock over MP death
Labour MP Lucy Powell on Friday night revealed she had received “a number of reassuring calls from Greater Manchester Police” with “some extra measures and support being put in place”.
Sir David’s death follows the 2016 murder of Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was shot and stabbed in her Yorkshire constituency on the day when she had been due to hold a surgery.
But senior Tories have urged caution over new security measures that would move MPs away from meeting with members of the public.
Lord Pickles, a former Conservative Party chairman who was an MP for 25 years before joining the House of Lords, acknowledged that security risks were “part of the job” for parliamentarians.
“It’s something you sign up to,” he told Sky News.
“There are some places in the world… where they [politicians] operate in a bubble, where they are a political class.
“But you could see David on the train to Southend, you could see David in local restaurants, you could see David just about anywhere.
“David’s accessibility was one of the reasons why he was such an effective operator inside parliament, inside politics.”
Lord Pickles described Sir David’s death as “tragic”, “dreadful” and “not normal”, but added: “We live in an age where sometimes you have to take risks.
“No one expects you to die, of course you don’t, but you don’t expect it to be entirely risk free.
“A doctor doesn’t entirely expect themselves to be risk free, a nurse doesn’t entirely expect themselves to be risk free, in teaching you are taking some risks.
“When you’re dealing with people who are often emotional, who feel like the system has let them down, often they’ll look for someone to blame.
“But, you know, if we sort of close up shop and just disappear behind a security bubble, it is democracy itself that will be the lesser thing.”
Image: Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in June 2016
Lord Pickles’s fellow former Tory cabinet minister, ex-Brexit secretary David Davis, told Sky News that Sir David would “hate” the idea of MPs being distanced from their constituents.
“It’s an awful paradox, frankly, that it was in his constituency surgery that he was attacked and killed,” he said.
“I do hope – and I think he would hope – that one of the outcomes of this is not that we distance ourselves from constituents.
“He would hate that idea.”
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Eyewitness video at MP attack scene
Pauline Latham, Conservative MP for Mid Derbyshire, told Sky News there was a need to review MPs’ security.
“We can’t be totally protected,” she said. “There will always be nutcases who will try to stifle democracy, there will always be unpleasant people who will try to cause mayhem and we’re no different from any other member of the public.
“But we do put ourselves in a vulnerable position over surgeries.
“Maybe we need more security at places like that where the public know where we are – and so perhaps there should be a bigger police presence supporting MPs.”
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‘A stalwart of parliament, a great man’ – Hoyle
Kim Leadbeater, the sister of Jo Cox who is now a Labour MP herself, said that many MPs will be “scared” by the death of Sir David.
“It’s so hard because we’ve got a job to do,” she said. “I find myself now working as a politician and trying to help people and trying to do good things for people.
“It’s really important that we get good people in public life. But this is the risk that we’re all taking. So many MPs today will be scared by this.
“My partner came home and said ‘I don’t want you to do it anymore, because the next time that phone goes it could be a different conversation’.”
Ms Leadbeater said that safety was “always on my mind everywhere I go and everything I do” but added she was “really well looked after by the police”.
The amount of money spent protecting MPs rose substantially following the murder of Jo Cox in June 2016.
Accounts from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority showed MPs spent £2.5m on security in 2016/17 – up from £170,000 the previous year.
Image: Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the stomach at a constituency surgery in east London in 2010
The murder of Jo Cox came six years after Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the stomach at a constituency surgery in east London.
Roshonara Choudhry, a 21-year-old student, was later found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for a minimum of 15 years.
During her trial, a court heard Choudhry had made a list of MPs who had voted for the Iraq war.
Mr Timms underwent emergency surgery but survived the attack and continues to serve as MP for East Ham.
In January 2000, Andrew Pennington died while saving the life of Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones when they were attacked with a Samurai sword.
The 39-year-old, who was acting as an assistant to Mr Jones, was posthumously awarded the George Medal for bravery.
The UK and India have struck an “ambitious” trade deal that will slash tariffs on products such as whisky and gin.
The agreement will also see Indian tariffs cut on cosmetics and medical devices and will deliver a £4.8bn boost to the UK economy, according to the government.
It is also expected to increase bilateral trade by £25.5bn, UK GDP by £4.8bn and wages by £2.2bn each year in the long term.
The news will be a welcome boost for the government following poor local election results, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to a resurgent Reform UK.
What will also be touted as a victory for Downing Street is the fact the government managed to strike a deal with India before the White House.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer hailed the “historic day for the United Kingdom and for India”.
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“This is the biggest trade deal that we, the UK, have done since we left the EU,” the prime minister said.
What trade-offs are in the ‘historic’ deal with India?
This is the most significant trade deal Britain has negotiated since Brexit. It has been three years in the making with round the clock negotiations taking place in recent days.
Britain and India were coming from very different starting points. India’s economy is notoriously protectionist, with average tariff rates floating at around 130%. The UK, by comparison, is a very open economy. Our tariff rates hover around 5%. It means there were many prizes on offer for UK exporters, who are eyeing up a rapidly growing economy with increasingly powerful consumers.
The government will point to considerable concessions on 90% of tariff lines, 85% of them will go down to zero within the decade. It includes wins on whisky, which within ten years will be halved from the current 150%. No other country has managed to get India to move on that.
Of course there are trade-offs involved. The UK has agreed to lower tariffs on Indian textiles and apparel- a big employer in India. It will also make it easier for Indian professionals to come to the UK, something the Indians have been pushing hard on. However, there will be no formal changes to immigration policy.
Both countries have also refused to budge on certain industries. The UK has not lowered tariffs on milled rice, out of fear it could decimate native industries. The same applies to dairy for the Indians. Both sides have agreed quotas on cars for the same reason.
The Indians were pushing for an exemption for its high emission industries from the UK’s upcoming carbon tax. It is understood that will not happen.
“And it’s the most ambitious trade deal that India has ever done. And this will be measured in billions of pounds into our economy and jobs across the whole of the United Kingdom.
“So it is a really important, significant day. “
In a post on X, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also welcomed the agreement as a “historic milestone” and added: “I look forward to welcoming PM Starmer to India soon.”
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Negotiations for the deal relaunched in March after stalling under the Tory governmentover issues including trade standards and the relaxation of visa rules for Indian workers.
Overall, 90% of tariff lines will be reduced under the deal, with 85% of those becoming fully tariff-free within a decade.
Whisky and gin tariffs will be halved from 150% to 75% before falling to 40% by year ten of the deal, while automotive tariffs will go from more than 100% to 10% under a quota, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said.
For Indian consumers, there will be reduced tariffs on cosmetics, aerospace, lamb, medical devices, salmon, electrical machinery, soft drinks, chocolate and biscuits.
Meanwhile, British shoppers could see cheaper prices and more choice on products including clothes, footwear, and food products including frozen prawns as the UK liberalises tariffs.
India’s trade ministry said that under the deal, 99% of Indian exports will benefit from zero duty, Britain will remove a tariff on textile imports and Indian employees working in the UK will be exempt from social security payments for three years.
Shadow trade secretary Andrew Griffith added: “It’s good to see the government recognise that reducing cost and burdens on businesses in international trade is a good thing, and that thanks to Brexit we can do.
“But it would be even better if they would apply the same reasoning to our domestic economy, where they remain intent on raising taxes, energy costs and regulatory burdens.”
The news was also welcomed by business group the British Chamber of Commerce, which said it was a “welcome lift for our exporters”.
William Bain, head of trade policy, said: ”Against the backdrop of mounting trade uncertainty across the globe, these tariff reductions will be a big relief. Products from Scotch whisky to clothing will benefit and this will give UK companies exporting to India a clear edge on increasing sales.
“The proposals for a follow-up investment treaty will also provide a solid platform to grow manufacturing and other sectors in our two economies.”
Representative Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), led Democratic lawmakers out of a joint hearing on digital assets in response to what she called “the corruption of the President of the United States” concerning cryptocurrencies.
In a May 6 joint hearing of the HFSC and House Committee on Agriculture, Rep. Waters remained standing while addressing Republican leadership, saying she intended to block proceedings due to Donald Trump’s corruption, “ownership of crypto,” and oversight of government agencies. Digital asset subcommittee chair Bryan Steil, seemingly taking advantage of a loophole in committee rules, said Republican lawmakers would continue with the event as a “roundtable” rather than a hearing.
HFSC Chair French Hill urged lawmakers at the hearing to create a “lasting framework” on digital assets, but did not directly address any of Rep. Waters’ and Democrats’ concerns about Trump’s involvement with the crypto industry. He claimed Waters was making the hearing a partisan issue and shutting down discussion on a digital asset regulatory framework.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Veteran US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Trish Turner was appointed to lead the agency’s digital assets division following the departure of two key crypto-focused executives.
Turner, who has spent over 20 years at the IRS and most recently served as a senior adviser within the Digital Assets Office, will now head the unit, according to a report from Bloomberg Tax citing a person familiar with the situation.
Her promotion marks a significant leadership transition at a time when US crypto tax enforcement is facing both internal and external pressures.
On May 5, Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee and Seth Wilks, two private-sector experts brought in to lead the IRS’s crypto unit, exited after roughly a year in their roles.
Mukherjee served as compliance and implementation executive director, while Wilks oversaw strategy and development. Wilks announced his departure on LinkedIn, while Mukherjee confirmed his decision in a statement to Bloomberg Tax.
“The reality is that federal employees have faced a very difficult environment over the past few months,” Wilks wrote. “If stepping aside helps preserve someone else’s job, then I am at peace with the decision.”
Seth Wilks announced his departure on LinkedIn. Source: Seth Wilks
The IRS has ramped up its focus on cryptocurrency in recent years, increasing audits and criminal probes targeting digital asset transactions.
It also attempted to introduce broad crypto broker reporting requirements, which drew sharp criticism from industry stakeholders and was eventually overturned by President Donald Trump.
Set to take effect in 2027, the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule would have expanded the tax authority’s existing reporting requirements to include DeFi platforms, requiring them to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.
Turner’s leadership also comes during a shift in Washington’s approach to crypto regulation.
With the return of the Trump administration in January, federal agencies have scaled back regulations perceived as burdensome to digital asset innovation.
For instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped or paused over a dozen enforcement cases against crypto companies. Additionally, the Department of Justice has announced the dissolution of its cryptocurrency enforcement unit, signaling a softer approach to the sector.
Internally, the IRS is also navigating instability. Over 23,000 employees have reportedly expressed interest in resigning after Trump reintroduced a deferred resignation policy, raising concerns about long-term staffing and morale within the agency.