Security fears as Harman puts map of Parliament on the web

HARRIET HARMAN was today accused of giving an "open invitation" to terrorists to attack Parliament by publishing a detailed plan of its layout on the internet.

The Commons leader was criticised by MPs from all parties for publishing the map of the Palace of Westminster on the Cabinet Office website. It showed MPs' offices and other rooms and detailed the complex labyrinth of corridors which run through the buildings.

Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow, who sits on Parliament's security committee, told the Standard: "There has to be some concern that providing a very detailed plan of the Palace of Westminster is really an open invitation to both terrorist attacks and also to anyone else who wants to try to get in. It does not seem to make a great deal of sense to me."

Within hours of the Standard alerting the authorities, access to the map on the Cabinet Office webpage was being denied.

Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said: "I'm astonished that so much detail has been provided on the internet.

"This is providing a guide book for those who want to target members for whatever reason."

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Details of floor plans were published inadvertently. They were intended for internal parliamentary use only.

"Once this was noticed, the maps were removed from the public site."