Updated

Armed police have arrested a man in connection with preparing a terror attack just yards from Downing Street.

Officers locked down the roads around London’s Whitehall as they carried out the arrest, pushing the man to the ground before holding him at the scene.

Police say the man, in his late twenties, was carrying a rucksack containing knives and forensic officers were seen examining knives on the pavement.

The man was arrested on the Parliament Street junction with Parliament Square, close to the scene of last month's terror attack which killed five people including PC Keith Palmer last month.

The Metropolitan Police said the man was stopped at 2.22 p.m. as part of an ongoing search operation. He had been taken to a south London police station where he is being held under the Terrorism Act.

A statement said: "The man, aged in his late twenties, was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. Knives have been recovered from him.”