The Home Secretary has said politicians will not be “cowed” following the fatal stabbing of MP Sir David Amess, which police believe may be linked to Islamist extremism.

Priti Patel visited the scene at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on Saturday morning alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to pay their respects to Sir David, less than 24 hours after he was killed at a constituency surgery.

Ms Patel said security measures were being put in place to protect MPs but vowed they will carry on serving the country unimpeded in the face of the attack, which the Metropolitan Police have declared was a terrorist incident.

Speaking at Southend Police Station, the Home Secretary said: “We will carry on, we live in an open society, a democracy. We cannot be cowed by any individual or any motivation… to stop us from functioning, to serve our elected democracy.”

Asked whether there could be a balance between the safety of MPs and the democratic process, she said: “It can be balanced, it can absolutely be balanced.”

Ms Patel said Sir David was “was killed doing a job that he loves, serving his own constituents as an elected democratic member and, of course, acts of this… are absolutely wrong, and we cannot let that get in the way of our functioning democracy.”

“So that is why there are measures under way right now – I convened meetings yesterday, I’ve been with the Speaker of the House, and with the police and our security services to make sure that all measures are being put in place for the security of MPs so that they can carry on with their duties as elected democratic members,” she added.

Sir David, 69, who had been an MP since 1983, was fatally injured while meeting constituents.

A 25-year-old man arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder is in custody at an Essex police station.

Official sources told the PA news agency the man is believed to be a British national with Somali heritage.

As part of the investigation, officers are also carrying out searches at two addresses in the London area, the Met said.

Scotland Yard said the country’s most senior counter-terror officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, has formally declared the incident as terrorism and said early investigations have revealed “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”.

Politicians put on a united front at the church on Saturday morning, with Mr Johnson and Sir Keir individually laying flowers outside the building.

But MPs have raised concerns over their safety at constituency surgeries following the attack, sparking a debate over whether they should continue in person.

Veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman said she will be writing to the Prime Minister asking him to back a Speaker’s Conference to review the safety of parliamentarians.

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who was hailed as a hero for his attempts to save the life of Pc Keith Palmer during the Westminster terror attack in 2017, said face-to-face meetings with MPs should be paused until a security review has been completed.

Investigators believe Sir David’s killer acted alone and are not seeking anyone else in connection with his death.

According to reports, the knifeman was waiting among a group of people to see Sir David at the church and launched the attack shortly after the MP arrived.

Local councillor John Lamb told the PA news agency he dashed to the church when he heard Sir David had been “stabbed multiple times”.

He said: “David was there holding his surgery at that Methodist church and this person had gone there to join the surgery and when he got the chance and he went in to be seen by David, then he drew a knife and stabbed him.”

By the time Mr Lamb arrived, police cordons were up and he could not get into the church.

He said: “We knew it must be very serious because the paramedics had been working on Sir David for over two-and-a-half hours and they hadn’t got him on the way to hospital. We knew it had to be extremely serious and that the worst scenario could occur – we were hoping it wouldn’t but it did. That was when we heard that he had died.”

The Conservative councillor said a worker from Sir David’s office who was in the surgery during the attack was “not in touch at the moment because it’s so distressing, she’s getting counselling at the moment”.

Mr Lamb previously told the Daily Mail that Sir David was with two female members of staff – one from his constituency office and one from his parliamentary office – when a man “literally got a knife out and just began stabbing him”.

Chief Constable of Essex Police Ben-Julian Harrington said Southend West MP Sir David was “simply dispensing his duties when his life was horrifically cut short”.

Tory veteran Sir David, who was described by Mr Johnson as “one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics” was married with five children.

The attack came five-and-a-half years after Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a far-right extremist in her Batley and Spen constituency in West Yorkshire.

A senior trade unionist has been suspended by Labour after suggesting Home Secretary Priti Patel was “disgusting” and should be deported.

Unite’s assistant general secretary Howard Beckett – who is standing for the leadership of the major union – apologised for the social media message.

Mr Beckett sits on Labour’s ruling national executive committee but the PA news agency understands he has now been suspended by the party.

Mr Beckett made the remarks following protests in Glasgow over the detention of two men by Border Force officials.

Police Scotland released the Indian nationals after people surrounded the immigration enforcement van and prevented it from leaving on Thursday.

Mr Beckett originally said: “Priti Patel should be deported, not refugees. She can go along with anyone else who supports institutional racism.

“She is disgusting.”

He subsequently deleted the message.

He later said: “Priti Patel message on Eid al Fitr is to deport Muslim refugees. Those who have been forced to flee war zones.

“We are seeing appalling institutional racism again and again from the supposed pillars of the British elite.

“Our society should have no place for racism, at all.

“I’m very sorry for my earlier tweet. I was angry to see Muslim Refugees being deported on the morning of Eid al Fitr.”

He said his earlier message was “never intended to be literal” and “the wording was wrong” and “offensive”.

“I apologise unreservedly to Priti Patel. No one should be deported.”

It is understood neither of the men involved in the situation in Glasgow is Muslim.

Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “This is vile. This should play no part in Labour – or in British politics.”

A Labour spokesman said the party “takes these allegations extremely seriously” and promised appropriate action.

Tory MP Steve Baker said it was “an extraordinary, absolutely intolerable remark” which must have a “robust response” from Labour.

Credit: PA News

Asylum seeking migrants could be processed on disused ferries moored off the coast, according to reports.

The suggestion came after it was also claimed that the UK was considering sending migrants to centres in Papua New Guinea, Moldova, or Morocco.

Government sources refused to be drawn on the reports, stating that the UK was examining how other nations handled migrants with a view to “informing” the British situation.

According to The Times, Number 10 is considering buying retired ferries and converting the vessels into processing centres to house asylum seekers off the UK coast.

The newspaper also stated the Home Office discussed moving migrants to decommissioned oil platforms in the North Sea for processing, but the idea was rejected.

In a version of the Australian “offshore” model, asylum seekers could also be sent to detention centres in Papua New Guinea, Moldova, or Morocco, The Guardian said.

It claimed leaked documents had revealed Downing Street had asked officials to look into the matter, but met “push back” from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Placing migrants on ships is seen as “more realistic” and is an option to be put to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to reports.

Government sources said that Britain was looking at the way other countries handle the situation regarding migration to “inform a plan for the UK”.

The reports follow controversy over a proposal discussed in the Home Office that asylum seekers could be processed on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.

The option came as a surprise to inhabitants on the volcanic territory 4,000 miles from the UK.

The idea considered within Priti Patel’s department that asylum seekers could be transferred to the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic has been derided as “inhumane” by critics at home.

But it was also dismissed on Wednesday as an unfeasible, “logistical nightmare” by a member of the Ascension Island Council, Alan Nicholls.

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “This ludicrous idea is inhumane, completely impractical and wildly expensive. So it seems entirely plausible this Tory Government came up with it.”

Refugee Action chief executive Stephen Hale added: “It’s deeply troubling that our Home Secretary even considered that this immoral and inhumane plan was a serious solution to a humanitarian crisis.”

A senior United Nations official told the Commons Home Affairs Committee she urged the Home Office not to adopt the idea.

Rossella Pagliuchi-Lor, the UK representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said: “This is the Australian model and I think we have already seen that the Australian model has brought about incredible suffering on people who are guilty of no more than seeking asylum.

“It has also additionally, I think, cost, and continues to cost, an incredible amount of money, so it seems to be both extremely inappropriate in terms of the commitments that the country should have to human rights and to asylum, but also an incredibly impractical and expensive way of doing so.”

Ms Patel has vowed to stop migrants making the perilous journey across the English Channel in small boats amid record numbers of crossings.

The proposal further reflects the influence of Australia – which has controversially used offshore processing and detention centres for asylum seekers since the 1980s – on the UK’s immigration and asylum policy.

The Government has based its post-Brexit points-based immigration system on that developed in Australia.

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