Police cordon off Whitehall after reports of suspicious looking package

Police sealed off parts of Whitehall on Friday morning after reports of a suspicious package in the area.

Witnesses reported seeing parts of Parliament Street, just around the corner from the Houses of Parliament and close to Downing Street, being closed off to vehicles and “a lot of blue lights arriving”. about 10.15am.

The heightened police presence got people talking on social media, but the Met said the incident was brief and roads reopened quickly after the package was found to be “non-suspicious”.

Police have been stood down from the area.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “ Whitehall and other street were briefly closed off in the past hour while officers assessed an item in the vicinity of Parliament Square that was found to be non-suspicious.

“All roads have now been reopened.”