Hoyle: Parliament restoration delays ‘frustrating’ as cost estimate hits £40bn
The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, says MPs are “putting ourselves in handcuffs” by endlessly surveying the Palace of Westminster instead of repairing it, days after the Public Accounts Committee called this “crunch time” for a restoration that could cost up to £40bn and take 61 years, with each year of delay adding £420m. “Why don’t we start repairing the building?” he asked. Whips have discussed a vote by the new year but set no date.
The committee warned, with Notre-Dame in mind, that the mist fire-suppression system does not yet cover the most historic parts of the building. MPs are to be asked to approve up to £3bn of initial works and narrow down four current options, with a final decision due by 2030. “We spend more time doing surveys,” Sir Lindsay said on Radio 4’s Week in Westminster, calling the failure to begin “my biggest frustration”. The debate has outlived four prime ministers: the risk of a catastrophic fire is documented in successive reports, while the politics of spending tens of billions on MPs’ workplace during a cost-of-living squeeze has deterred every government from deciding. Andy Burnham, who has made devolution and “moving power out of London” a theme, has not said whether Parliament should decant to another city during the works, an option some MPs favour. Watch for the whips to name a date; if the vote slips past the new year, the committee’s £420m-a-year meter keeps running.