ANY attempt by the IRA to disrupt tomorrow's general election would unite the British people in their determination to go out and cast their vote British politicians said as they condemned another series of bomb alerts which brought roads and airports in south east England to a standstill yesterday.
Just 48 hours before voters go to the polls, coded bomb warnings to police in London and Hampshire brought sections of the M25 orbital route in London to a standstill during the morning rush hour and closed Gatwick and Southampton airports.
Large sections of the M1, M3, M26 and M27 linking London with the southeast were also closed to traffic for several hours as police and army bomb disposal officers searched the motorways. Chatham town centre in Kent was also cordoned off for more than two hours during a security alert. No devices were found.
The motorway bomb warnings were telephoned to Scotland Yard just before 7 a.m. and the M25 was immediately closed at two junctions leading into London from the north and south of the city. The resulting traffic chaos as one of the busiest routes around London was shut off caused several miles of tail backs as drivers attempted to travel into the city by different routes.
The Prime Minister, Mr John Major, was clear in his belief that the bomb alerts were the work of the IRA. "I do not think the British nation are going to be moved by this. They have made their judgment of the IRA. I think the British nation know the sort of people they are dealing with and you won't cow the British nation with this sort of activity inconvenience them, yes, but not cow them, never.
The security alert at Gatwick Airport forced the Shadow Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, to cancel a campaign flight to Plymouth. As he prepared to continue on the campaign trail by train, he said the activities of the IRA and Sinn Fein were "stupid and counter productive".
The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, told a morning press conference that the activities of the IRA would have no influence on the election.