MP in Westminster lockdown says 'don't let terror win'

Labour MP Wes Streeting says "life has to go on as normal" after Wednesday's terror attack outside Westminster.

He was locked inside his office near the Houses of Parliament with his staff and other MPs after the incident.

A police officer was stabbed to death and the attacker shot during the attack in central London.

There are reports that at least one person died in a related incident on Westminster Bridge, when a car drove into a crowd of people.

Wes Streeting is the MP for Ilford North and is locked in his office following the incident outside Parliament

The MP tells Newsbeat: "Every day since I've been elected, on the screens there is always the terror threat, which has been at severe for as long as I've been a member of parliament.

"You don't let terrorists win and life has to go on as normal," he says.

"We don't let terrorists disrupt our democratic process."

He also thinks that today's events are a stark reminder of the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in Birstall in June last year.

"I lost a very good friend to what I would describe as an assassination last year," he says.

Wes Streeting took office in May 2015 and says that MPs in the Houses of Parliament have been given daily warnings about the terrorism threat since he was elected.

"We know that the palace of Westminster is a target for terrorist attack and other acts of violence or disorder," he says.

"It's a threat we have to live with every day."

He praised the police and security services for their "speed and efficiency" ensuring MPs and others were safe.

News of the attack spread on social media, and many people have been speaking of their shock after seeing photos of the injured on Westminster Bridge shared on Twitter.

Wes urges people not to share pictures or eyewitness accounts out of respect to the victims' families.

"People really shouldn't be tweeting or saying too much about what they've seen, certainly not posting images to social media," he says.

"I think that's potentially harmful but certainly upsetting to people who may know the victims and haven't been informed."

Instead, he asks people send their photos to ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk, where the police will treat them as evidence in an ongoing investigation.

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