Police investigate attempted break-in at Parliament Published duration 17 March 2012

image caption The attempted break-in took place in the Norman Shaw Buildings

An investigation is under way after an attempted break-in at the Houses of Parliament, Scotland Yard has said.

The Metropolitan Police received reports of a forced entry to an office in the Palace of Westminster just before 19:00 GMT on Friday.

The attempted break-in took place in the Norman Shaw Buildings where Ed Miliband's office is.

But it was not the Labour Party leader's suite which was targeted, sources have told the BBC.

Spate of thefts

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were contacted at 6.55pm regarding an alleged forced entry to an office in the Palace of Westminster. Inquiries continue."

Sources have told the BBC that the door of an office used by Labour staff was forced, and that it follows a spate of laptop thefts around the House of Commons.

Labour Party staff were away at a youth conference in Warwick on Friday.

The two seven-storey Norman Shaw Buildings on Victoria Embankment were used until 1967 as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police.

They are located to the east of the main Palace of Westminster complex, next to Portcullis House.