Huntingdon Train Attack

Julian Smith Excerpts

Monday 3rd November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

As my hon. Friend will know, I am limited in what I can say, given that this is a live police investigation. The police have obviously confirmed some of the facts, but their investigation must be allowed to continue without further speculation. He makes a good point, and I well understand why people in his constituency, or those who regularly use that station, will feel concerned. That is why BTP has increased patrols to provide additional reassurance to the community. Nothing at this point suggests that this was a particular location of interest, and I hope that reassures my hon. Friend’s constituents.

[Sir Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

I echo tributes to the train staff and emergency services, and to the Home Secretary and her team, who I am sure were working flat out all weekend. The case is being investigated, but given the events of Saturday and in the run-up to Saturday night, can I urge her to bring together police chiefs to talk about information sharing and any further resource that they require? I am happy to admit that we should not have diluted stop and search, but can I urge her to look again at that? Northern Ireland is much more permissive, and section 60 needs to be reviewed.

[Shabana Mahmood]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks. My experience over the weekend regarding the different police forces and emergency services who responded to this attack is that they work together very well, and I was pleased to see that level of co-ordination, especially when different forces are responsible for different things. At the start of this incident, counter-terror police were supporting the investigation. They were stood down, but if they had needed to be stood up again, that would have happened almost instantaneously—as soon as the request was made. My initial experience and impression of the collaborative working has been positive, and I pay tribute to everyone involved in it over the weekend.

I will take away the right hon. Gentleman’s comments on information sharing and reflect on what he said. When such a huge incident takes place, with lots of information going out in different forms, it is important that we ensure complete co-ordination. If he has any specific concerns in relation to this incident, I will be happy for him to write to me, and I will respond, but I will pick up that conservation with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and others as well.

I reassure the right hon. Gentleman that I think that stop and search is a very valuable tool for the police. I will always want to see it used, wherever that is appropriate. My understanding from my conversations with the police so far is that their powers work quite well from an operational perspective, but I will always be open-minded and willing to look again at any of these issues, should there be a change in the advice from police or in our experience of how the powers are used.