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Roundup: British politicians advised to vacate Palace of Westminster under repair program

Xinhua, September 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Politicians must leave the House of Commons and the upper chamber, the House of Lords, for six years under a multi-billion-dollar restoration plan put forward Thursday.

A senior parliamentary committee has recommend that politicians and staff vacate the Palace of Westminster, one of Britain's most recognizable buildings, to enable a massive 5.4 billion U.S. dollars repair and restoration program to be carried out.

The Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster concluded in a report Thursday that the Palace of Westminster "faces an impending crisis which we cannot responsibly ignore".

"There is a substantial and growing risk of either a single, catastrophic event, such as a major fire, or a succession of incremental failures in essential systems which would lead to Parliament no longer being able to occupy the Palace," the committee report warns.

The committee, made up of MPs and Peers, also concluded the current "patch and mend" approach to maintaining the palace is no longer sustainable and recommends that a major program of works is now essential.

The committee was appointed in July 2015 to consider a range of options and make recommendations on the best way to protect the palace and to maintain it as a working parliament.

The recommendation is that Members of Parliament should move to the Department of Health headquarters in nearby Whitehall and peers from the House of Lords would hold their meetings in the QEII Conference Center, also in London.

The committee's report says the proposal is the quickest and cheapest solution to the crumbling state of the building, but the move would require the approval of both the Commons and the Lords.

The report is the first to put forward a firm action plan for repair work at the palace which would involve safely moving large quantities of asbestos, replace an antiquated electric wiring system and also restore crumbling and frail stonework.

Some politicians of both chambers have in the past expressed opposition to quitting their historic home, calling for work to be done in stages to enable them to keep the Palace of Westminster working.

Chris Bryant, a Labour member of the Parliament on the committee, said: "All the evidence points to having to move out of the whole Palace simultaneously. That is the lowest risk, most cost-effective and quickest option."

A detailed study will now be compiled to enable politicians in both houses to make a final decision on whether to accept the recommendation to vacate the palace while the work is done. The palace has not had a major renovation of its mechanical and electrical services since it was built in the mid-1800s. Enditem