Labour Party Conference: Delegates ask - why is G4S guarding us?

Senior Labour MPs, including members of the shadow cabinet, are dismayed that G4S is providing security at the party conference this week.

Protesters outside the conference in Manchester were furious that Labour is using a company that provides security systems for Israeli prisons that hold Palestinians – facilities where there is evidence that children have been ill-treated and tortured.

It is understood that at least one member of the shadow cabinet told the Party’s administrators it should not use G4S, but the request was denied. A close confidant of leader Ed Miliband added that they wanted to “chop” G4S, which is the biggest employer listed on the London Stock Exchange, with more than 600,000 staff. G4S said it “takes very seriously our obligations to ensure our activities do not contribute to human rights abuses”

In 2012, Mr Miliband called on the Coalition to temporarily ban G4S from bidding on public-sector contracts after it failed to provide enough security guards for the London Olympics. He was embarrassed to learn G4S had already been contracted to run that year’s conference security.