Snipers on the roof tops for King's Speech in Westminster ring of steel

POLICE snipers are set to be deployed on the rooftops as part of a ring of steel for the State Opening of Parliament and the King’s Speech.

- Nicholas Cecil

A huge security operation will be put in place in central London for Wednesday when the King will travel from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. Barriers were this morning already going up outside Parliament ahead of one of the great ceremony’s of Britain’s democracy.

Hundreds of police officers will be deployed along Whitehall and nearby streets, including some in plain clothes. Snipers will be located on key buildings to protect the King. The police operation is expected to be heightened following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in the United States.

Re-elected Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told last week how the parliamentary authorities were working with the police to step up protection for MPs after the growing level of abuse thrown at them.