Westminster attack: PC Keith Palmer named as police officer killed – as it happened

This is from the Press Association.

There was a major security alert at the Palace of Westminster after a man apparently carrying a knife charged through the gates into the front yard of the parliamentary compound.

Amid shouts and screams, sounds similar to gunfire rang out.

Two people were seen to be lying within Old Palace Yard, immediately outside Westminster Hall.

The sitting in the House of Commons was suspended while police officers sealed off the area around the incident.

Immediately before the incident, at around 2.45pm, a crowd of passers-by was seen running from the direction of Westminster Bridge and around the corner into Parliament Square.

This is from the Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts, the paper’s parliamentary sketch writer. He works in the Commons.

This is from the Met Police.

The Press Association has snapped this.

Sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. A man with a knife has been seen within the confines of the Palace, eyewitnesses said.

This is from the FT’s Jim Pickard. He was in Portcullis House a few minutes ago.

My colleague Jessica Elgot is in Portcullis House. She can see 10 to 20 police officers running to the front of the building.

About five minutes ago she saw a lot of people running along the street alongside.

I’m in the Guardian office in the press gallery at the Commons. Security officials have told us to stay where we are.

In the Commons chamber the sitting has been suspended.

There are reports of a shooting at the Commons.

In Edinburgh MSPs will soon resume their debate on the SNP’s motion calling for a second independence referendum.

Before it starts, here is a reading list.

• Simon Johnson in the Daily Telegraph says an SNP MP will tell Nicola Sturgeon today not to call a referendum until public opinion has shifted.

Nicola Sturgeon will be advised by one of her most senior colleagues to postpone a second independence referendum until she has overcome Scots’ opposition to it.

Alex Neil, a former Scottish Government Minister, is to tell Holyrood on Wednesday that calling a rerun of the 2014 vote without strong public support for another poll would damage the Nationalists’ chances of victory.

Speaking ahead of the conclusion of a two-day Scottish Parliament debate on a second referendum, Mr Neil told the Telegraph said Ms Sturgeon has “to make sure people are with us” before committing to a timetable.

• Tom Gordon in the Herald says yesterday’s debate was particularly bad tempered.

In the key vote before the first referendum, MSPs unanimously agreed in November 2013 to pass the required bill.

There was no such consensus yesterday. It was trench warfare ...

The pro-UK parties tried to put a question mark over the final decision, which is non-binding, pointing out the SNP government has ignored a series of awkward votes against it of late, yet now holds up a vote in the Scottish Parliament as the pinnacle of democracy.

There was also a slew of insults. One SNP MSP said there was a gang of social media “abusers” on the Labour side, while a Tory likened Ms Sturgeon to “a fanatic”.

Some say the first referendum was a giant party. The next looks like the monstrous hangover.

• Severin Carrell in the Guardian says Nicola Sturgeon was accused of hypocrisy in yesterday’s debate after she insisted Theresa May had to respect Holyrood’s call for a second independence referendum.

• Kenny Farquharson in the Times (paywall) says he thinks Scotland will leave the EU.

Last time, people such as myself, arguing for a “no” vote, were able to talk of the UK as a force for good in the world — liberal, tolerant, multicultural, diverse, with a dynamic popular culture, fizzing with creative energy.

This is still true, to an extent. But it has been obscured for the moment by a Brexit campaign that has emboldened an atavistic side of Britain that, to Scottish eyes, is not only foreign but alien.

This is a Britain that turns away refugee children fleeing war. This does not feel like home. This does not feel like a country worth fighting for. It feels less precious than before.

In 2014 the UK survived because turnout in No areas was higher than turnout in Yes areas. I find it hard to imagine, next time, the same rush to the polling stations to rescue this Union ...

Another factor is the apparent inability of Theresa May to envisage a Brexit Britain that involves good news for Scotland. I was speaking to a source close to the first minister last week who admitted that if the prime minister had packaged up some key powers to be repatriated from the EU and presented them to Holyrood last month, tied up with a neat tartan ribbon, it would have made it very hard for Ms Sturgeon to have taken the first step last week towards a new referendum.

• ITV’s Peter MacMahon says the Scottish Greens are being criticised for siding with the nationalists.

And, for anyone who is interested, here is the record of yesterday’s debate (pdf).