Senior MPs renewed demands for cars to be banned from Parliament Square today after the latest suspected terrorist attack.

Politicians were urged to heed the 'wake up call' and back moves to pedestrianise the area in front of the famous building.

Earlier this year the authorities at the Houses signed off more than £150,000 of funding for tests of how traffic could be managed if Parliament Square was partly or even fully closed off.

The proposals could mean that only vehicles belonging to politicians, their staff and delivery firms are allowed access to the road running past the historic building.

This is the scene in the minutes after the crash and shows the vehicle was within the network of barriers outside Parliament. These were increased after the terror attack there last year

The idea of pedestrianising Parliament Square was originally raised a decade ago, and reached the stage of having plans drawn up by renowned architect Norman Foster (pictured). But it was dropped by Boris Johnson when he became London Mayor in 2008.

Plans for a secure 'air lock' were pushed ahead after a review in the wake of the attack in March last year, when Khalid Masood used a car to mow down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before roaming on to the estate and stabbing a policeman to death.

But one senior MP told MailOnline that they now needed to 'go forward' without delay. There has previously been frustration at resistance from some MPs to stepping up security measures.

'The House has been woken up again to the dangers of terrorism,' they said.

Tory backbencher Nigel Evans suggested cars should be barred from the whole square to reduce the risk.

He told TalkRadio that when he came to parliament 26 years ago there were 'not even armed police'.

'All of that has been stepped up as a response to incidents in the past, and I suspect this will reignite the debate on whether the whole of parliament square should be pedestrianised to ensure that anybody can’t weaponise a vehicle and disrupt and indeed destroy out democracy," he said.

A 'war game' that simulated gun-wielding terrorists ramming a car through the gates was previously said to have exposed glaring weaknesses - concluding that four extremists armed with automatic weapons could get into the Commons chamber and massacre MPs.

Barring non-parliamentary traffic from the area would make it easier to protect the vulnerable main entrance.

Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who chairs the parliamentary security group, gave a presentation to MPs and peers on the plans before Christmas.

The car was stopped in its tracks by a new security barrier designed to stop a lorryborne attack used in Nice or Berlin

The 'Parliament Square Streetscape' project', which is being put together with Westminster Council, is also understood to have support in principle from London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Mr Khan pledged to part-pedestrianise the square, a prime tourist spot, during his election campaign.

The idea was originally raised a decade ago, and reached the stage of having plans drawn up by renowned architect Norman Foster. But it was dropped by Boris Johnson when he became London Mayor in 2008.

In an answer to a written question in November, Mr Khan said a 'multi-agency steering group' was considering options ranging from 'minimal changes to more significant changes to the square'.