By Martin Banks - 1st March 2011
The parliament has to sort out its security and fast before somethingawful happens
Nigel Farage
Parliament has been urged to "sort out" its security arrangements after another alleged breach of security.
The latest incident is believed to have happened last week when a French stagiaire, said to be on the run from Belgian police for issuing death threats to colleagues by email, allegedly obtained a new security badge from parliament's accreditation.
A well-placed parliament source said his former stagiaire colleagues were even given an extra security guard for protection after he apparently slipped through the applications net and entered parliament by claiming he was disabled.
The senior source said the man, who had been sacked earlier in the week, was hunted through the buildings and arrested by police on parliament’s premises a short time later.
The incident comes after a recent armed robbery at a postal office in parliament in which several thousand euros were stolen and another security scare during the visit of Prince Charles when a French journalist managed to smuggle a fake gun into parliament.
Responding to the latest scare, Ukip leader Nigel Farage said, "Security in the European parliament is a farce.
"We have had armed robberies, people wandering around getting close to dignitaries with fake weapons and now we have someone dangerously disturbed. Sooner or later somebody is going to get badly hurt.
"Are the parliamentary authorities going to wait until we have a situation like Stephen Timms in London [who was stabbed during a constituency surgery] before they act?
"I know it is hard to believe but the European parliament, particularly since the Lisbon treaty is becoming more and more influential.
"Discussions that can make or break companies and impact upon tens of thousands of jobs are made here.
"Those who lose, and to be honest there are millions of people in the
EU who have lost due to decisions made in this place, are apt to get
angry.
"It just takes one person with a grievance, whether legitimate or not and there could be an emergency.
"The parliament has to sort out its security and fast before something
awful happens."
Parliament remained tight-lipped on the alleged incident but a press office source said, "We don't know if he was arrested.
"We only know that he was here last week receiving treatment by our medical service and that he is not a parliament trainee anymore."
