Gatwick failed to spot knife in bag says MP

AIRPORT chiefs will come under fire today from a senior Labour MP who took a seven-inch knife on to a plane at Gatwick.

Former health minister Gisela Stuart is due to tell a Commons debate on the airport that she mistakenly had the knife in her hand luggage when she went on holiday to Corsica on 3 August.

Ms Stuart discovered the knife with a three-inch blade on arrival and asked her office manager in Birmingham to get in touch with Gatwick to tell them of the security breach. The MP for Birmingham Edgbaston was told on 22 August that security staff were being retrained.

Ms Stuart, who will also highlight a report that EU inspectors smuggled replica bomb components past security at Gatwick this year, doubts whether security at the Sussex airport has been adequately improved.