The German parliament is to be given a major new security overhaul — in the form of a dry moat.

Under plans being considered by Angela Merkel’s government, the Reichstag building in central Berlin will be surrounded by an eighteenth-century style ha-ha.

Government security experts say the moat is necessary to prevent terror threats to MPs. As with London’s Palace of Westminister, there have been concerns that the Reichstag’s exposed location puts it at risk. In 2010 it was briefly closed to the public amid reports of a bomb plot.

The plans under consideration also include a security fence to shield the building’s main entrance and a new visitor centre for tourists.

“Of course, we have to consider whether such security measures are suitable from an urban planning perspective,” Katrin Lompscher, a spokesman for the Berlin regional government said.

Visitors currently face lengthy queues for security checks at an ugly prefabricated centre that was hurriedly put up following 2010's terror alert and resembles a glorifed portakabin.

The planned 71,000 square foot new building to replace it would be set much further back from the Reichstag and connected to it via an underground tunnel.