Plan for electric fence around Commons axed
Plans to install an electric fence around the House of Commons have been dropped amid fears that creating a "fortress Parliament" would be seen as a victory for terrorists.
Other measures such as closing much of Whitehall to traffic and placing floats on the Thames have also been dismissed by a high-level security review.
Less headline-grabbing measures, such as a crackdown on security passes and the installation of "rising bollards" to block roads, are instead being planned.
The review of security was launched after Tony Blair was hit by paint bombs in a Commons protest by a fathers rights group in May.
The attack by Fathers 4 Justice underlined the gaps in Parliament's defences and "most of the Cabinet could have been wiped out" if demonstrators had hurled anthrax instead of powder paint.
Greenpeace protesters also managed to scale Big Ben in March after clearing two fences without being spotted by police or triggering alarms.
The review by MI5 and the Metropolitan Police is set to be passed to the House of Commons Commission next month. Insiders have warned it is "highly unlikely" to include proposals to electrify part of the fence around Parliament or place booms across the Thames to prevent an attack by boat.
It is feared creating fortress-like conditions in the heart of one of the world's oldest democracies could be seen as a key propaganda victory for al Qaeda.
A less dramatic proposal is the installation of bollards which can rise out of the ground to block streets around the Commons after a terror warning.
A crackdown on the distribution of security passes is already under way, with many Whitehall civil servants and press officers denied access. More than 6,700 passes to Government departments are lost or stolen each year.
To prevent a lorry bomb attack, Ken Livingstone's long-planned move to pedestrianise part of Parliament Square may also get the go-ahead.
Plans to relocate Parliament outside London in the wake of a terror attack are also being discussed.
