MPs WILL move out of crumbling Houses of Parliament for six years for £6billion refurbishment
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Loading... - Sabina Daniels
- 01 Feb 2021
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MPs have finally agreed a multi-billion pound restoration project to shore up the crumbling Houses of Parliament.
Concerns over cost and public opinion have dogged the restoration and renewal project, which could cost around £6 billion.
The proposal agreed to by MPs, tabled by Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom will commission an Olympics-style delivery authority to led a major restoration of the Palace of Westminster - and for MPs to move out of the historic building while that takes place.
MPs in favour of that option by 234 to 185.
Ms Leadsom, who led the debate, said it was a decision that should have taken place around 40 years ago.
She said parliament consisted of a “hotch potch” of pipes and wiring that was ageing faster than it was possible to repair.
“There are some critical risks in the Palace of Westminster,” she said.
“Firstly, the lack of fire compartmentation increases the risk of fire, meaning that 24-hour fire patrols are necessary in order to keep us safe.
“Over the last 10 years, 60 incidents have had the potential to cause a serious fire.”
She also highlighted a “huge amount” of asbestos in the walls and the fact many pipes and cables were decades past their lifespan.
“The likelihood of a major failure grows the longer the systems are left unaddressed,” she said.
Other options put forward included an amendment proposed by the chair of the Public Accounts Committee Meg Hillier and endorsed y the chairs of several select committees including Frank Field, Rachel Reeves, Hilary Benn and Nicky Morgan.
This commits parliament to a "full and timely decant" as the most "cost-effective" solution.
It also proposed a Olympic-style delivery authority.
Ms Hillier said: "We cannot keep putting this into the long grass, we have to make a decision".
She tackled arguments over the expense of the repairs saying: ""It is going to cost money, of course, but it's not as if that money, let's face it, the Treasury is going to give to matters in my constituency that I want to see.
Estimates suggest a 'full decant', which would mean relocating both MPs and peers while the entire building is renovated, would cost £3.5 billion over six years.
While a 'partial decant’, moving first MPs while the House of Commons is renovated and then beginning work on the Lords after they return is understood to cost: £4.4bn over 11 years.
To ‘refurbish on site’, meaning a rolling programme of upgrades would be carried out while MPs and peers remain in the Palace, would cost an estimated £5.7bn over 35 years.
A number of MPs voiced concern that if MPs moved out while the repairs were taking place then they wouldn't return.
But Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz said action needed to be taken “immediately”, and warned that MPs could have to leave the Palace of Westminster without choice if they did not do so to begin the repairs.
She said the link to the site “might be broken beyond our control and we would have to be forced to leave if there were a fire or any other act of God that takes place.”
During the Commons debate, former First Secretary of State Damian Green warned that the Houses of Parliament were not safe saying that while it was an “exaggeration” to describe the Unesco World Heritage site as a “death trap” it is not a “wild exaggeration”.
He said: “Anyone who has taken that tour of the basement will have seen the full horror of the current arrangements.”
The MP for Ashford pointed out that chunks of masonry had fallen off high parts of the building, adding: “We are lucky that no-one has been killed so far because of this.
“It is not remotely conceivable that if this were a normal building that people would be allowed to work in it let alone that thousands of tourists would be allowed to visit it.”
He said he supported those saying Parliament should stay in the Palace of Westminster in the long term, but said: “I think no-one’s conscience should be comfortable with the potential consequences of delay and inaction in these circumstances.”
Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the former transport secretary argued in favour of a “full decant”.
He said the recent renovation at London Bridge station would have been finished much more quickly if the station had been closed.
A joint committee warned in 2016 that unless urgent action was taken the Palace of Westminster was at risk of a “catastrophic event”.
The steam-heated building - with its basements a tumble of wires, pipes and cables - was the scene of seven fires in 2017, while there were two hundred reported “toilet failures”.
The outgoing senior parliamentary official Black Rod warned action needed to be taken or it could become “another Grenfell”.
The famous Big Ben bell has already been silenced while urgent work is carried out on the Elizabeth Tower.
An amendment to motion one in the name of SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, which asked for any future review to assess the cost of relocating Parliament away from the Palace of Westminster, was defeated by 410 votes to 47 - majority 363.
