Westminster's £4bn Parliament refurb faces axe as coronavirus crisis spending fears grow
PLANS for a £4bn refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament face the axe in the face of public hostility to spending such large sums on the project, according to Westminster sources.
'FALLING apart' the reason behind Big Ben's 'silence'
Ministers were already wary about spending such a vast amount on a London project after pledging to pursue a “levelling-up” agenda focused on the North of England and the Midlands. And with the UK economy now facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the coronavirus crisis insiders believe the ambitious Restoration and Renewal scheme has little chance of making it off the drawing board.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if Restoration and Renewal are heading for a quiet grave
One Cabinet minister predicted the massive overhaul of the crumbling buildings would find a “quiet grave” once the pandemic has passed.
The minister told inews: “I get the distinct impression from key players - not just within Government but also at the highest level in the House of Commons - that they feel it just isn’t appropriate to plough on as if nothing has happened and bearing in mind just where we are as a country.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Restoration and Renewal are heading for a quiet grave.
“We are going to have to find far more inventive ways of working around these problems and not spending the sort of money that seems inappropriate post-COVID-19.”
The scheme had already run into controversy before coronavirus swept the world with warnings the final bill could easily top £6bn given the complexity of restoring the Unesco World Heritage site to its former glory.
But parts of the 19th Century Westminster estate have become so dilapidated that experts fear a catastrophe on the scale of the Notre Dame cathedral fire is a real possibility and warned urgent action was required.
A National Audit Office report out last month said MPs and peers in charge of the revamp would need to keep a firm grip on the project after the bill for emergency repair work on Big Ben jumped by 176 percent.
READ MORE: Houses of Parliament CRUMBLE as masonry PLUMMETS 230ft to pavement
Following the debates in both Houses in early 2018, Parliament agreed that the "best and most cost-effective way" to carry out the restoration and renewal of the Palace in one single phase was to temporarily move out of the building.
Former Tory minister Robert Halfon said he feared MPs and peers would never return if they moved out of Westminster during the six-year restoration project as costs would reach unacceptable levels.
He said: “If the project’s costs are ballooning, the public will ask, with the coronavirus spending, how can we can spend yet more money on this.”
Under plans approved by MPs two years ago the Commons would relocate to a temporary chamber in Whitehall in the mid-2020s while the Palace of Westminster is overhauled.
The Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body was launched as an independent organisation separate from Parliament last month.
The Sponsor Body will set the scope, budget and timescale for the project.
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It will oversee a Delivery Authority responsible for procuring contractors and executing the work.
The 1,100-room palace dates from the mid-1800s and is now one of the most iconic and significant buildings in the world.
The previous building was devastated by fire in 1834 but the oldest part of the Parliamentary Estate, Westminster Hall which was built in 1099, survived and is still in use today.
