June 6 (UPI) — Police departments in Britain plan to beef up security at polling stations for Thursday’s general election after Saturday’s terror attack in London.
Security expert Michael Fuller, whose company has worked for the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, told the BBC there is “significant risk” of polling sites being targeted.
“There is a significant risk that people will be intent on disrupting the voting process and to do that at a polling station on the day would be a positive achievement from their point of view,” he said. “There are simple things that can be put in place [such as] a visible police [officer] in place in the area of a polling station, and I wouldn’t think that would be too much of a drain on resources.”
Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservative Party and Jeremy Coryn’s Labor Party suspended their campaigns through Sunday night after seven people were killed and 48 injured in London on Saturday night, the third terror attack in Britain in three months. Police killed three suspected terrorists.
The Electoral Commission said local police departments handle security at the polls.
Westminster City Council said it has a “range of measures in place to ensure the safety of voters at the polls across the city.”
In West Midlands, police said there will be “an increase in patrol in some of the areas where voting is taking place where necessary.”
Essex Police’s Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said to the BBC “we will do our very best to try and keep them safe.”
“When you see this type of vile challenge on our lifestyle, more than ever, people need to go out there and vote, Kavanagh said.
May called the election in an effort for her party to receive a larger majority as she begins negotiations for Britain to leave the European Union.
Market research firm YouGov published a poll Monday that estimated that 42 percent of the respondents intended to vote for the Conservatives. That would give them 304 seats in Parliament compared to 266 seats for Labor, with other parties getting the remaining votes.
A total of 326 of the 650 seats are needed to control the House of Commons. Otherwise, May or Corbyn may then try to form a coalition with other parties to form a governing majority. A total of 3,303 candidates in several dozen parties are running.
In 2015, the Conservative Party won 331 seats.
Corbyn said the Conservatives have slashed 20,000 police jobs over the past seven years in power.
“You cannot protect the public on the cheap. The police and security services must get the resources they need, not 20,000 police cuts,” he said Sunday in Carlisle, northern England. “Theresa May was warned by the Police Federation, but she accused them of ‘crying wolf.'”
May, who was Britain’s interior minister under her predecessor, David Cameron, said Monday that counter-terrorism resources are well funded despite the cuts in staffing.
