On Wednesday 31st January, I voted in favour of MPs and their staff being temporarily moved out of the Palace of Westminster while it is restored. I did so because it is the cheapest option for the British taxpayer and the quickest solution to what is becoming a public safety hazard and a serious threat to one of our most treasured national heritage sites.
The Palace of Westminster has reached a state of disrepair that must be addressed as an urgent matter of public safety. I have been given a tour of the tunnels underneath the Palace myself and was shocked by the extent of the infrastructural problems. Basic gas and plumbing is hopelessly out of date and insulation is not only insufficient and potentially flammable but in many cases laced with asbestos. The Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom told the House of Commons recently that 60 incidents in the last 10 years have had the potential to cause a catastrophic fire and the estate now requires constant fire patrols to intervene in such incidents.
Since there is no doubt that something must be done to address this, there are two options realistically available to MPs. One option entails work being carried out around the day to day running of Parliament and adapted so that MPs can continue our duties while the restoration goes on around us. The other involves a full decant, with us all leaving and taking up our work elsewhere so that restorers can focus fully on the job at hand and work as freely and uninterrupted as possible. I appreciate that the former option is very tempting for those MPs who are sentimentally attached to the Palace of Westminster and I understand the symbolic significance of the place as the seat of the world’s oldest democracy, however the heritage of the site would be better and more affordably protected by the latter option.
The Public Accounts Committee came to the same conclusion in a report released last year. This was an important consideration in how I voted because it provided clear evidence that the UK taxpayer would be better served by MPs temporarily leaving Parliament. I will be sad to leave the Palace of Westminster if I am still an MP when work is envisaged to commence in 2022 but it is a sacrifice that I believe is necessary for the basic safety of the thousands of people who work in and visit Parliament every day, as well as for taxpayers.