A CUMBRIAN MP was just seconds away from being caught in a shooting near the Houses of Parliament. 

News surfaced shortly after 3pm of gunshots being heard, with witnesses reporting seeing a man with a knife.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron tweeted to say he was being held in lockdown at New Scotland Yard, just metres away from Parliament.

He told the Gazette: "I'm looking down the bridge now and it's all closed, there's ambulances and a helicopter.

"I was going from my office towards Parliament and coming to the door when the police pushed us all backwards and about 50 yards in front of us someone had driven deliberately through the gates and had been attacking people with a knife. It happened where I was heading to.

"There was a moment of blind panic with police having to deal with a serious incident. It's pretty scary actually.

"I heard shots fired, others heard shots. You see a lot of these things on television, it's very sobering when you actually see it.

"I'm just here in New Scotland Yard and I have to say police have been outstanding."

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock said: “I was on my way to vote with a crowd of MPs through Old Palace Yard, in sight of Parliament Square when shots were fired and we were all ushered at top speed back to a secluded part of Portcullis House.

“I am now waiting in a meeting room in there on an upper floor away from the window with Cat Smith MP and a team from Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust who were down for a meeting with us.

“My office was within sight of one of the incidents, a crashed car, but my staff are fine and waiting away from the window.”

Morecambe and Lunesdale’s MP was also caught up in the incident saying that the atmosphere was ‘very tense’.

David Morris MP had been voting and was one of the first through the division. 

He said he was with Ed Miliband MP, attempting to get to his office but found that the ‘doors [were] locked’.

“The police have told everyone not to move from the corridor,” he said, speaking to the Gazette from just outside of the Chamber. “It’s tense. It’s very tense. We are all concerned.

“It’s very calm. There’s no hysteria or anything like that. Nobody’s scared but there’s a lot of tension."

Mr Morris said he had not heard gunshots but had seen several plain clothed officers and police with guns.