‘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.”
World
Zelenskyy knows he risks another Oval Office ambush – but has to be a willing participant in peace talks
There will be no red carpet or fly past, no round of applause when Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Washington DC on Monday.
But the bitter memory of his last visit to the White House will feature prominently in the Ukrainian president’s thoughts.
In February, he was mocked for not wearing a suit and told he didn’t “have the cards” by US President Donald Trump, before being walked off the premises early, like an unruly patron being thrown out of the bar.
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Blow-by-blow: Inside Zelenskyy and Trump’s February clash
Zelenskyy knows he is risking another ambush in the Oval Office but has to present himself as a willing participant in peace talks, out of fear of being painted as the obstacle to a resolution.
There was initially measured optimism in Kyiv after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, because it appeared that no deal had been cut between Washington and the Kremlin without Ukraine in the room, as had been feared.
But that restrained positivity quickly evaporated with the release of a statement by Trump the morning after the night before.
Pic: AP
In the heady heights of a meeting with strongman Putin, he seemed to have abandoned the one key thing that European leaders had impressed upon him – that there had to be an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine as an absolute starting point to a permanent resolution.
Trump had apparently reached the conclusion that no ceasefire was required. “The best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine… is to go directly to a peace agreement,” is how he put it on his Truth Social media account.
Read more:
Key takeaways from Sky correspondents
Body language expert unpacks the summit
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Trump-Putin summit – The Debrief
That sent shockwaves through Kyiv.
Many there and elsewhere believe Russia has no intention of stopping the war yet, and will use its military advantage on the battlefield to pressure Ukraine in drawn-out negotiations to give up more territory.
In the meantime, the slaughter of Ukrainians will continue.
It is the most dramatic of 180s from Trump, who before the meeting and after lobbying from European leaders had said he would not be happy if Putin failed to agree to a ceasefire, and even promised “severe consequences”.
Yet now reports suggest Trump is giving credence to the Russian position – in a phone call to Zelenskyy he laid out Putin’s proposal that Ukraine relinquishes even more territory, in return for an end to the war.
The Ukrainian president will have, no doubt, been distressed to see the pictures of Putin being greeted like a king on an American military base in Alaska. It is in direct contrast to how he was hosted on US soil.
In Trump’s orbit everything is a personality contest, and where he has very obvious deference to Putin, he has disdain for Zelenskyy. That makes the Ukrainian’s position very difficult.
Any agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin following their historic summit could leave Ukraine in an impossible position after three years of brutal, grinding war for survival.
While no deal was struck when they met in Alaska on Friday, the two leaders are believed to have discussed the possibility of Ukraine giving up territory in exchange for an end to the fighting.
That would effectively be an annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory by Russia by force.
Russia currently occupies around 19% of Ukraine, including Crimea and the parts of the Donbas region it seized prior to the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Use the slider above to see how much territory Russia controlled in March 2022 – when it controlled the most – compared with now.
Going into the summit, Mr Trump said he hoped to get “prime territory” back for Ukraine.
Mr Putin reportedly made demands to take control of key regions of Ukraine as a condition for ending the war during the summit.
The Russian leader is said to have told the US president that he wants the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, adding he would give up other Ukrainian territories held by his troops in return.
The land Russia wants to take would put Ukraine’s eastern Dombas region fully under their control.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said Mr Putin wants the rest of Donetsk – and in effect the entire eastern Donbas region – as part of a ceasefire plan.
He said Kyiv would reject the proposal and explained that such a move would deprive Ukraine of defensive lines and open the way for Moscow to conduct further offensives.
Read more: Vladimir Putin ‘demands key regions of Ukraine in exchange for peace’
Here, Sky News speaks to experts about what a deal between the Russian and American presidents in the coming days could mean for the battlefield.
Will Ukraine be forced to give up territory to Russia?
While Mr Trump’s attitude to Ukrainian resistance appears possibly more favourable from his recent comments, it’s still possible that Kyiv could be asked to give up territory as part of any agreement with Russia.
Moscow has been focused on four oblasts (regions) of Ukraine: Luhansk and Donetsk (the Donbas), Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Mr Putin’s forces control almost all of Luhansk, but about 30% of the others remain in Ukrainian hands and are fiercely contested.
The regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine have been subject to fierce fighting
“Russian rates of advance have picked up in the last month, but even though they are making ground, it would still take years (three or more) at current rates to capture all this territory,” Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the RUSI thinktank, told Sky News.
He says it “wouldn’t be surprising” if Russia tried to acquire the rest of the Donbas as part of negotiations – something that is “highly unattractive” for Ukraine and could leave them vulnerable in future.
This would include surrendering some of the “fortress belt” – a network of four settlements including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – that has held back Russian forces for 11 years.
Military analyst Michael Clarke said this might well satisfy Mr Putin “for now”, but many believe that he would return for the rest of Ukraine – possibly after Mr Trump leaves office.
Mr Zelenskyy has since rejected such a concession, however, saying he has no right to relinquish territory and that the Donbas would be a “springboard for a future new offensive” by Russia.
Would Russia have to return any territory to Ukraine?
The White House appears to have been briefing that it might, though the situation is very unclear.
Mr Savill added: “The Ukrainians might want to even up the situation in the north, by removing Russian incursions into Sumy and near Kharkiv, but of greater importance would be getting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant back under Ukrainian control, given how much it would contribute to Ukrainian power needs.”
It’s also possible that Russia could be willing to withdraw from the areas of Kherson region that it controls.
It’s “plausible” they could get the power plant back, Mr Clarke said, but Russia would likely insist on maintaining access to Crimea by land.
This would mean that cities Mariupol and Melitopol would remain in Russian hands, with all that that entails for the people living there.
Read more:
What we expected from the summit – and what happened
Analysis: A red carpet for a man with blood on his hands
A ceasefire along the frontline?
Michael Clarke told Sky News that the summit “certainly won’t create peace, but it might create a ceasefire in place if Putin decides to be flexible”.
“So far he hasn’t shown any flexibility at all,” he added.
A ceasefire along the frontline, with minimal withdrawals on both sides, would be “structurally changing” and an “astonishing outcome”, he said.
However, he doubts this will happen. Mr Clarke said a favourable outcome could be the two sides agreeing to a ceasefire that would start in two weeks (for instance), with threats of sanctions from the US if Russia or Ukraine breaks it.
No deal was reached at the summit itself, but the two leaders are expected to continue to speak in the coming days and weeks.
“If something goes wrong, there shouldn’t be multiple deaths. I should be the only one.”
Where once Islamic State ruled the land, the black flag of its caliphate heralding unspeakable violence and horrors in the city of Raqqa, now people are trying to return to normal lives.
But left behind are landmines, IEDs (improvised explosive devices), booby traps and other explosives that pose a deadly threat to civilians – years after the terror group was driven out of its former capital.
All over Syria, hundreds of thousands of people are returning to their homes after the fall of dictator Bashar al Assad. But the landscape is scarred with unexploded ordnance installed not just by IS, but by multiple sides in the decade-long civil war.
Mine disposal expert Sunil Thapa knows that every moment he works could be his last.
He is one of the most experienced ordnance disposal experts in the world, having defused explosives by hand for the last 19 years.
As he works in warzones across the globe, he thinks of his family and the colleagues whose lives the job has claimed over the years.
His day in Raqqa starts early, at 6am.
“Once you move out of your house, you can see the remnants of war,” the 39-year-old tells Sky News.
“You cannot see a single house in Raqqa that is in good condition. They are destroyed or you can see the footprints of explosive ordnance or bullets.
“When you go out, it disturbs your mind. It’s easy to imagine the ISIS (IS) occupation, how brutal fighting happened in this area. It will take years and years to rebuild.”
Sunil and his colleagues are only allowed to stray 300 metres from their accommodation for security reasons when not at work. But it’s a work day, so he’s headed out to the Mines Advisory Group’s (MAG) operational base.
There he briefs the teams and decides where to go first. There are often multiple sites in the area that need his expertise in defusing mines and explosives, so he has to prioritise.
MAG mine detection staff arrive for work. Pic: MAG
“I go where I am needed most. The teams’ job is to detect the threat – landmines, cluster munitions or IEDs – it’s solely my responsibility to defuse them.”
He arrives at his first call of the day and instructs colleagues on what happens next, telling them how far the exclusion zone needs to be.
“The safety distance should be 100 metres for an anti-vehicle mine and 50 metres for an anti-personnel mine.
“Because while defusing explosives, if something goes wrong, there shouldn’t be multiple deaths. I should be the only one.
“I have dealt with thousands and thousands, I don’t even remember the numbers I have disarmed.”
IS fighters parade along the streets of Raqqa province in 2014. Pic: Reuters
Sunil shows Sky News an anti-vehicle mine that he has already made safe, talking through how he went about defusing it.
Step by step, he explains how he removed the rubber cap before turning elements of the mine in various directions to fully neutralise the explosive.
“But every time, before I reach to disarm, the first thing that comes into your mind is you remember your family. Then you beg to your God: ‘This time please allow me to go and meet my family’.”
He adds: “If people say they are not scared, they are probably lying. No matter how skilled you are, or how much experience you have, you just need a bad day to get killed.
“If I’m holding an anti-personnel mine and it slips from my hand and hits the ground with enough force, it will detonate.”
Sunil in front of a Red Crescent truck that hit a mine. Pic: MAG
Sunil, from western Nepal, started out in the Nepali Army, disposing of landmines on two UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti and Mali.
Now he works for MAG, a global humanitarian organisation that finds, removes and destroys landmines, cluster munitions and unexploded bombs from places affected by conflict.
The group, which was supported by Princess Diana, was this week awarded the Conrad N Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the highest global humanitarian award recognising non-profits worldwide dedicated to alleviating human suffering.
Chief executive Darren Cormack said the prize is “recognition of the tireless and courageous work of our global staff”.
Read more:
British girl returns to UK from ISIS detention camp in Syria
CCTV shows hospital volunteer being shot dead in Syria
The scale of MAG’s challenge in Syria is staggering.
Since the fall of Assad there have been more than 1,100 casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnance, including nearly 500 deaths, according to data from the INSO humanitarian organisation.
And the situation could get worse. Already this year more than half a million Syrians have returned to their homes. This is expected to rise to two million by the end of 2025, the UN says.
Sunil disarms each mine by hand – a dangerous task. Pic: MAG
Sunil does the job for his wife and son, who live back home in Nepal. He says he will likely retire from his frontline job in a few years to spend more time with them.
After starting at 6am and working for hours in the hot sun, Sunil usually gets home around 2.30pm.
There are two restaurants he is allowed to visit in the small 300-metre secure zone around where he lives.
He sleeps for a couple of hours before dinner, exhausted from the day’s work in the field, and does a workout before turning in for the night.
The next day, he will again be up at 6am, ready to continue his dangerous but crucial work making Raqqa safer for its people. One landmine at a time.
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