BRITAIN’S CRUMBLING PARLIAMENT BUILDING AT RISK OF BEING DESTROYED, LAWMAKERS WARN

Fri 19 May 2023:

On Wednesday, a parliamentary committee warned the British government that if the restoration of the Palace of Westminster is delayed, a terrible calamity might force the 147-year-old complex to collapse and be destroyed.

The British Parliament is housed in the Palace of Westminster, an architectural masterpiece and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian.

However, British MPs pointed out that the structure is asbestos-filled, leaky, and in “real and rising” danger of being destroyed.

The Public Accounts Committee said in a report that after decades of broad consensus on the critical need to repair and restore the Palace of Westminster, progress has been painfully slow with “years of procrastination” and significant parliamentary decisions being reopened and overturned. The Committee says that, to date, the focus has been on Members of Parliament rather than the thousands of staff and visitors who use the building.

The Committee calls it “incredible” that, five years after the House determined a course of action, questions about what a restored palace might look like and how the work will be undertaken remain unanswered. The timeframe and cost also remain uncertain, except that the cost will be high and that further delays will be hugely costly to the taxpayer.

Parliament is paying up to 2 million pounds (Rs 20,56,92,200) per week to repair the Palace, yet there is still a growing number of health and safety incidents, some of which involve asbestos.

According to the Committee, the Clerks of both Houses “”finally seem to acknowledge publicly the enormity of this task, for which they are now personally accountable”, but it is unclear how they will balance their legal responsibilities to the program with those to individuals working in and visiting the Palace.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent