‘Unacceptable cloak of secrecy’ around Houses of Parliament restoration, says MP
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee has told Sky News she “could weep for the five years” lost by the decision to abolish the organisation set up to managed the long-term renovation of parliament.
Dame Meg Hillier MP says there is an “unacceptable cloak of secrecy” around the restoration programme which she says was effectively sent back to the drawing board after the estimated bill rose to between £7 and £22 billion.
But every week the work isn’t done costs £2.5m maintenance – and former leader of the house Dame Andrea Leadsom says she’s worried the Palace of Westminster could be Britain’s Notre Dame.
After decades of debate, MPs are still intensely divided about the cost of the work, whether they have to move out of parliament, and where their temporary home might be if so.
When the Palace of Westminster burnt to the ground in 1834 the flames were so high they could be seen from 20 miles away.
Palace of Westminster on Fire 1834. Pic: UK Parliament
Politicians of the day had spent many years beforehand arguing about the need to renovate the old parliament.
Now, nearly 200 years later, many fear that without large-scale restoration work a similar disaster could befall its successor.
But after decades of debate, the organisation set up by parliament in 2018 to manage the huge renovation project has been scrapped.
“I could weep for the five years we’ve lost,” says Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee. “There was a real issue here about shooting the messenger.
“It feels very much like we are back to square one. Now we have no sponsor body, no plans to carry out the work, and there’s still argument about whether we should stay in the building while the work is done or not.
“This is not about us as MPs. This is about a building that belongs to the country – yes, it will cost a lot of money, but you can’t dodge it.”
A recent report from the committee concluded any likely start date “has been pushed back by many years because of repeated attempts to revisit the basis of the programme”.
“We do not want it to take another catastrophic incident to finally galvanise action,” it reads.
What work is actually taking place?
Ongoing repair work to strengthen the roof and Victorian masonry is constantly under way and work has recently been carried out to restore the ceiling of St Stephen’s Hall, for example (on the site of the original Commons Chamber, which burnt down), as well as the renovation of the Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben.
But the real challenge is in the vast, labyrinthine basement with gas and dripping water pipes jumbled together alongside a morass of electric wiring, telephone cables, and even a working steam engine which is part of the Victorian sewage system.
Dr Alexandra Meakin, a politics lecturer at the University of Leeds, is an expert on the restoration programme. She says the mess in the basement is a disaster waiting to happen.
“With gas and steam pipes running alongside each other, even a tiny leak, there is a huge fire risk – it’s only allowed to stay open at all if there are fire wardens patrolling 24 hours a day.
“The risk is real, it’s not just cosmetic work. And it’s not just about the MPs and peers, but about the staff who work there – the thousands of people in catering and cleaning who shouldn’t have to work in a death trap, not to mention all the millions of visitors, including school children.”
The palace is also riddled with asbestos – last year it emerged a leak during building work meant up to 117 contractors and staff had potentially been exposed.
“If you try to do major work in the palace, it’s going to be difficult to work around it,” says Dr Meakin. “Asbestos runs the whole length of the building.”
Concerns over costs, timescales and governance
In January 2018, parliament voted to move forward with plans to vacate the building – known as a ‘decant’ – and carry out a full renovation, setting up an independent sponsor body (a team of some 55 staff and experts as well as parliamentarians) to lead and manage the project along the lines of the London Olympics.
Last January they published provisional cost and schedule estimates which predicted that the essential works alone would cost between £7bn and £13bn – and take 19 to 28 years.
If MPs and peers insisted on staying put, they warned the project could end up lasting as long as 76 years, and cost as much as £22bn.
For some, this was just too much to accept.
In March, the Commissions of the House of Commons and Lords (made up of the speakers, clerks and other senior parliamentarians) said they had concerns over the project’s costs, timescales and governance.
They recommended scrapping the sponsor body altogether and bringing the vast project in house.
MPs and Lords voted that through in the summer, and the decision passed into law just before Christmas.
Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh is sceptical of what he describes as the “ridiculous” estimates drawn up by the sponsor body.
“There are ways of doing it that mean you don’t have to move everybody out at vast expense,” he claims.
“We can’t have a very expensive gold-plated plan, especially when the economy is in tatters – the public would look askance at parliament spending £20bn on itself.”
‘We just need to get on with it’
Last month the Shadow Leader of the House, Thangam Debbonaire MP, accused some MPs of “undermining” the work of the sponsor body and “wrangling with the experts”.
Sir Edward denies this is the case, and says it’s right for MPs and Lords to take back control of the project.
“We just need to get on with it and make it safe,” he says.
Dame Meg Hillier by contrast describes the commission’s intervention as “grubby”.
“If they did this to any other piece of legislation, there would be uproar,” she says. “I’m incredibly concerned.
“We’ve seen huge problems in the past – costs nearly tripled during the renovation of the Elizabeth Tower, and the memory of what happened with Portcullis House [which ended up substantially over budget and schedule when built to house MPs’ offices in the 1990s] still haunts people here.”
Where would staff move to?
Another complication is the lack of consensus on where the occupants of the Palace of Westminster would move to, even if agreement is reached on the need for them to do so.
While long-established plans had been developed to decant the Lords to the nearby Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, then-prime minister Boris Johnson later asked the programme to explore the option of sending them to York instead.
In May 2022 Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove also intervened, saying he would rather see them moving to Stoke.
As for MPs, under a previous phase of the project, £70m was spent preparing plans to rebuild Richmond House, the old Department of Health building in Westminster.
But that idea has now been dropped as being too expensive; and while some hope that the remote working technology used during COVID-19 could help provide a solution, reaching consensus on this aspect of the programme alone is clearly fraught with disagreement.
‘One of the most famous buildings in the world’
As former leader of the house, Dame Andrea Leadsom MP shepherded the 2018 legislation through parliament.
She says the decision to undo much of it “seems a means to kick the situation into the long grass – it’s disastrous.
“I get that it’s a huge bill, and I’m sympathetic to the need to get value for taxpayers’ money – but this is one of the most famous buildings in the world.
“There have been something like 50 fire incidents in the recent decade, any one of them could have resulted in a kind of Notre Dame style absolute burning down of the palace.
“There’s a huge amount of money being spent already just to patch and mend… we just need to crack on and do it rather than circling back round all the time and changing the decisions about how we’re going to do it.”
When will the next vote take place?
MPs are now expected to vote on a new strategy by the end of next year.
In a statement, parliament said: “In July 2022 members of both Houses agreed a more integrated approach to future restoration, prioritising safety critical work. We are getting on with work across the parliamentary estate to ensure the safety of those who work and visit here, and to support the continued business of parliament.
“This includes planning for the large and complex restoration of the Palace of Westminster to preserve it for future generations.
“More than 2,000 areas of the palace have been investigated this year to give a better understanding of the building’s condition. These surveys will inform a wide set of options for delivery of the restoration work, including the level of ambition during these challenging economic times.”
Maria’s treatment by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was so shocking the chief constable described it as “undefendable” and yet a year after a high-profile inquiry found she had been “unlawfully” arrested and strip-searched, Maria now has a criminal conviction for the crime the inquiry said she should never have been arrested for.
Warning: This story includes graphic descriptions of strip searches and references to domestic violence.
The Baird Inquiry – named after its lead Dame Vera Baird – into GMP, published a year ago, found that the force made numerous unlawful arrests and unlawful strip searches on vulnerable women. A year on, the review has led to major changes in police processes.
Strip searches for welfare purposes, where the person is deemed at risk of harming themselves, are banned, and the mayor’s office told Sky News only one woman was intimately strip-searched to look for a concealed item by GMP last year.
Women had previously told Sky News the practice was being used by police “as a power trip” or “for the police to get their kicks”.
However, several women who gave evidence to the Baird Inquiry have told Sky News they feel let down and are still fighting for accountability and to get their complaints through the bureaucracy of a painfully slow system.
The case of Maria (not her real name) perhaps best illustrates how despite an inquiry pointing out her “terrible treatment”, she continues to face the consequences of what the police did.
‘Maria’ said she was treated like a piece of meat by GMP
‘Treated like a piece of meat’
The story begins with an act of poor service. A victim of domestic violence, Maria went to the police to get keys off her arrested partner but was made to wait outside for five-and-a-half hours.
The Baird Inquiry said: “This domestic abuse victim, alone in a strange city, made 14 calls for police to help her.
“She was repeatedly told that someone would contact her, but nobody did. The pattern didn’t change, hour after hour, until eventually she rang, sobbing and angry.”
The police then arrested her for malicious communications, saying she’d sworn at staff on the phone.
Inside the police station, officers strip-searched her because they thought she was concealing a vape. Maria told Sky News she was “treated like a piece of meat”.
The Baird Inquiry says of the demeaning humiliation: “Maria describes being told to take all her clothes off and, when completely naked, to open the lips of her vagina so the police could see inside and to bend over and open her anal area similarly.”
Chief Constable Stephen Watson said the actions towards Maria were ‘inexplicable’
After the inquiry found all this not only “terrible” but “unlawful”, Chief Constable Stephen Watson described the actions of his officers towards Maria as “an inexplicable and undefendable exercise of police power”.
He added: “We’ve done the wrong thing, in the wrong way and we’ve created harm where harm already existed.”
Despite all of this, the charges of malicious communication were not dropped. They hung over Maria since her arrest in May 2023. Then in March this year, magistrates convicted her of the offence, and she was fined.
Dame Vera’s report describes the arrest for malicious communications as “pointless”, “unlawful”, “not in the public interest” and questions whether the officer had taken “a dislike to Maria”. Yet, while Maria gained a criminal record, no officer has been disciplined over her treatment.
A GMP spokesperson said: “The court has tested the evidence for the matter that Maria was arrested for, and we note the outcome by the magistrate. We have a separate investigation into complaints made about the defendant’s arrest and her treatment whilst in police custody.”
The complaint was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in August 2023 and Maria was told several months ago the report was completed, but she has not heard anything since.
Dame Vera Baird’s report catalogues the ‘unlawful’ arrest and strip search of various individuals by GMP
‘There’s been no accountability’
Dame Vera’s report also catalogues the “unlawful” arrest and strip search of Dannika Stewart in October 2023 at the same police station. Dannika is still grinding through the police complaints service to get a formal acknowledgement of their failings.
She told Sky News: “Everyone involved in it is still in the same position. There’s been no accountability from the police. We’re still fighting the complaint system, we’re still trying to prove something which has already been proved by an independent inquiry.”
Body cam footage of Dannika Stewart being arrested
Asked if anyone had been disciplined, Chief Constable Watson told Sky News: “There are ongoing investigations into individual failings, but for the most part the Baird review talked about systemic failings of leadership, it talked of failings in policy and failings of systems.
“In some cases, those people who may have misconducted themselves at the level of professional standards have retired. There are no criminal proceedings in respect of any individual.”
He added: “Every single element of the Baird inquiry has been taken on board – every single one of those recommendations has been implemented – we believe ourselves to be at the forefront of practice.”
‘It’s been three years’
Mark Dove who was also found by the inquiry to have been unlawfully arrested three times and twice unlawfully stripped-searched says he’s been in the complaints system for three years now.
He told Sky News: “There have been improvements in that I’m being informed more, but ultimately there’s no timeline. It’s been three years, and I have to keep pushing them. And I’ve not heard of anyone being suspended.”
Mark Dove was found to have been unlawfully arrested three times and unlawfully strip-searched twice
Sophie (not her real name), a domestic violence victim who was also found by the review team to have been unlawfully arrested by GMP, told Sky News that although most of her complaints were eventually upheld they had originally been dismissed and no officer has faced any consequences.
She said: “They put on record that I’d accepted a caution when I hadn’t – and then tried to prosecute me. Why has no one been disciplined? These are people’s lives. I could have lost my job. Where is the accountability?”
Since the Baird Inquiry, every strip search by GMP is now reviewed by a compliance team. GMP also provides all female suspects in custody with dignity packs including sanitary products, and they work with the College of Policing to ensure all officers are trained to recognise and respond to the effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors.
Kate Green, deputy mayor for Greater Manchester for policing and crime
The deputy mayor for Greater Manchester for policing and crime, Kate Green, says the lessons of the Baird Inquiry should reach all police forces.
She said: “I would strongly recommend that other forces, if they don’t already follow GMP’s practise in not conducting so-called welfare strip searches, similarly cease to carry out those searches. It’s very difficult to see how a traumatising search can be good for anybody’s welfare, either the officers or the detainees. We’ve managed to do that now for well over a year.”
Ms Green also suggests a national review of the police complaints system.
Read more:
Inquiry prompted by Sky news’ investigation
What Baird Inquiry revealed
Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods, of GMP, said: “Our reformed Professional Standards Directorate (PSD) has increased the quality of complaints handling and improved timeliness.
“Where officers have been found to breach our standards then we have not hesitated to remove them from GMP, with more than 100 officers being dismissed on the chief constable’s watch.
“Out of 14 complaints relating to Dame Vera’s report, four have been completed. Our PSD continues to review and investigate the other complaints.
“We’re committed to being held to account for our use of arrests and our performance in custody.
“By its nature, custody has – and always will be – a challenging environment.
“However, basic provisions and processes must always be met and, while we’re confident our progress is being recognised across policing, we stand ready to act on feedback.”
One child has died after a coach bringing children back from a school trip crashed and overturned near Minehead, Somerset, police have said.
A major incident was declared after the vehicle, which had 60-70 people on board, crashed on the A396 Cutcombe Hill, between Wheddon Cross and Timbercombe, shortly before 3pm on Thursday afternoon.
The coach was heading to Minehead Middle School at the time.
At a news conference on Thursday night, officials confirmed one child died at the scene.
A further 21 patients were taken to hospital, including two children who were transported via air ambulance. “Several” other people were treated at the scene, they added.
A police officer near the scene of the coach crash in Somerset. Pic: PA
“This has been an incredibly challenging scene for all emergency services,” Chief Superintendent Mark Edgington said.
“Today’s events are truly tragic, we know the whole community and wider area will be utterly devastated to learn of this news.”
An investigation into what caused the crash will be carried out, he added.
Gavin Ellis, the chief fire officer for Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service, said the coach “overturned onto its roof and slid approximately 20ft down an embankment”.
He praised an off-duty firefighter who was travelling behind the vehicle for helping at the scene, before crews then arrived to carry out rescues “in extremely difficult circumstances”.
“I’m grateful for the tireless effort and actions of the crews in doing everything they could for those who were trapped and as quickly as safely as possible,” he said.
“I’m extremely proud of the efforts that my firefighters took today at this tragic event.”
Eight fire engines were sent to the scene, with two specialist rescue appliances and around 60 fire personnel, Mr Ellis said.
A total of 20 double-crewed ambulances, three air ambulances and two hazardous area response teams were also sent to the scene, a representative for the South Western Ambulance Service said.
Pic: PA
Ch Supt Mark Edgington said: “Many passengers either sustained minor injuries or were physically unharmed and were transferred to a rest centre.
“Work to help them return to Minehead has been taking place throughout the evening.
“An investigation into the cause of this incident will be carried out.”
Minehead Middle School has pupils aged between nine and 14, and is five days away from the end of term.
‘I don’t have words,’ says local MP
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‘From one mother to another, I feel your pain’
Rachel Gilmour, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, has said the road where the coach crashed is “very difficult to manoeuvre”.
Speaking to Sky News chief presenter Anna Botting, Ms Gilmour said she visited Minehead Middle School recently, where she “met the children and they were full of joy, enthusiasm and were very positive”.
“I know many of their parents,” she said. “I don’t have words.”
Describing the scene, Gilmour continued: “You have a very difficult crossing at Wheddon Cross, and as you come out to dip down into Timbercombe, the road is really windy and there are very steep dips on either side.
“If the coach, as the police are saying, went 20ft off the road, you are literally on a really, really steep bank.”
The MP, whose constituency is partly in Devon and partly in Somerset, said there is a “really, really close community”.
“We will pull together, but it would be crass of me to say to a parent who’s just lost their child that I could make things better, I can’t,” she said.
“All I can say is that from one mother to another, I feel your pain.”
Cutcombe Hill near Minehead, where the accident took place. Pic: Google Maps
Sir Keir Starmer said in a post on X: “There are no adequate words to acknowledge the death of a child. All my thoughts are with their parents, family and friends, and all those affected.
“Thank you to the emergency workers who are responding at pace – I’m being kept up to date on this situation.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson wrote: “It is heartbreaking to hear that a child has died and others are seriously injured following the incident in Minehead earlier today.
“My thoughts are with their friends and families, and all those affected by this tragic event.”
Sixteen and 17 year olds will be able to vote in all UK elections in the biggest reform to the electoral system since 1969.
The government said it will give young people the right to vote in the next general election, something Labour promised in its manifesto last summer.
They can already vote in Senedd elections in Wales and Holyrood elections in Scotland, but this will mean all 16 and 17 year olds across all four UK nations can vote in local, regional and general elections.
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Up to 9.5 million more people will now be able to vote, the IPPR thinktank said. The latest figures show 48,208,507 people are registered to vote.
The last time the voting age was changed was in 1969 when it was reduced from 21 to 18.
The government has said the change will “boost democratic engagement in a changing world, and help to restore trust in UK democracy”.
Young people across the UK will be able to vote in all elections. File pic: iStock
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “For too long public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline.
“We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy, supporting our Plan for Change, and delivering on our manifesto commitment to give 16 year olds the right to vote.
“We cannot take our democracy for granted, and by protecting our elections from abuse and boosting participation we will strengthen the foundations of our society for the future.”
Majority of Britons do not want to give young people a vote
A YouGov poll of 5,538 adults held in the hours after Thursday’s announcement found 57% of Britons think 16 and 17 year olds should not be allowed to vote, while a third (32%) say they should.
Anthony Wells, head of European political and social research at YouGov, said due to “raw numbers”, 16 and 17 year olds “probably won’t have much impact” as they only make up about 2.8% of the 16+ population.
If their turnout rate is similar to other young people, they will also be a “substantially lower proportion of the actual electorate”, he added.
They tend to vote more heavily for Labour and the Greens – less for the Tories – however, he added this could change if Labour is unpopular by the next election.
No consultation
Conservative shadow communities minister Paul Holmes accused Labour of having “rushed” the announcement out “in an attempt to avoid parliamentary scrutiny and without consultation”, calling it a “confusing message to young people”.
He said it is a “brazen attempt” by a party whose “unpopularity is scaring them into making major constitutional changes without consultation”.
The Tory added: “16-year-olds will be able to vote in an election but not stand as candidates, and they will be able to vote but not permitted to buy a lottery ticket, consume alcohol, marry, or go to war.
“This is a hopelessly confusing policy from Labour, who appear uncertain themselves about what they want young people to be allowed to do.”
Read more:
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Bank cards allowed as voter ID
As part of the strategy, voter ID will also be extended to include UK-issued bank cards.
Mr Holmes raised concerns using bank cards for ID will “undermine the security of the ballot box”.
When other IDs that are already accepted, such as the veteran card and UK driving licences, become digitised, they will also be accepted in that form.
A digital Voter Authority Certificate will also be created to ensure electoral registration officers, who maintain registers of electors and absent voters, will be able to accept digital forms of ID.
Close loopholes for foreign donors
In an effort to boost transparency and accountability in politics, the government said it will close loopholes allowing foreign donors via “shell companies” to influence UK political parties.
New requirements will be introduced so unincorporated associations will have to carry out checks on donations over £500 to tackle foreign interference.
The Electoral Commission will also be given new powers to enforce heavier fines of up to £500,000 on those who breach political finance rules, and enable tougher sentences for those who abuse election campaigners.
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