Manchester Mayor Calls For Metal Detectors And Bag Searches At Large Public Events

18 April 2019, 10:41 | Updated: 18 April 2019, 11:59

Manchester's Mayor Andy Burnham has said the Government should review security at all major venues following the Manchester Arena attack.

Andy Burnham backed calls from victims' families to see security stepped up in an update to a report into the bombing.

The Mayor has called for mandatory security at public venues, following a campaign by Figen Murray, the mother of victim Martyn Hett.

Twenty-two people died when Salman Abedi detonated a device in May 2017.

The Mayor made the call as he published a progress report into how agencies have been working to further improve their readiness to respond to major incidents. It finds that all agencies have made progress towards implementing the Kerslake Report, set up after the Arena attack to assess the emergency services’ response on the night of the terrorist outrage.

Written by former head of the Civil Service, Lord Bob Kerslake, and a panel of experts, the report praised many aspects of the emergency services’ response, but also made a range of recommendations to help improve that response to future incidents of a similar type.  

Mr Burnham said: “I believe there is a clear case for a thorough review of security measures at major sporting and entertainment event venues to establish clearly understood mandatory standards and I call on the government to initiate one.

“We need to have clear minimum and mandatory standards at all venues so there is clarity for operators and confidence for the public."

The former Labour MP said he would support the principle of "Martyn's Law," which calls for metal detectors and bag searches to be obligatory at large public venues.