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9:56 26.07.2025 •
Photo: ‘The Daily Mail
Amid all the pressures on Britain’s public finances, fixing the crumbling, mouse-infested, fake-gothic palace that hosts the nation’s politicians isn’t high on the priority list, Bloomberg notes.
Yet as the Houses of Parliament literally fall down around them, MPs will soon be asked to approve a restoration package likely to run into tens of billions of pounds. Even as they wince at the prospect of looming tax rises and painful cuts to welfare and overseas aid, MPs must finally take a decision about shoring up their decrepit workplace.
The options are moving out into nearby buildings while the work is carried out (the Commons would go to the old Department of Health, the Lords to the Queen Elizabeth II conference center); a partial “decant,” where the Commons stays but the Lords depart and MPs use the upper chamber when theirs is being worked on; and a series of rolling repairs that allows everyone to stay. The latter is the least disruptive but most expensive and time-consuming.
In 2022, costs were estimated at between £7 billion ($9.41 billion) and £13 billion and to take between 19 and 28 years. Up-to-date estimates will be presented to MPs in the fall, and thanks to the delays that mean the palace is now in a worse state, plus the impact of inflation, they are likely to be far higher. Doing nothing, the route MPs have taken for at least a decade, means it’s now costing £2 million a year just to patch the building up as pipes break, wires fry and bits of masonry crash to the ground. It’s a wonder no one’s been killed. Experts warn the whole place could go up in flames at any minute, a la Notre Dame Cathedral.
The constant delays to the restoration project are emblematic of wider issues facing the British state where, particularly since the 2008 financial crash, governments put off decisions until they reach crisis point. The problem for this Labour government is that in so many areas, the music has stopped, delay is no longer feasible, and the bill is vast.
Inside are 1,180 rooms, 126 staircases and two miles of corridors. The fabric of the building is formed from thousands of sandy limestone, which gives its pleasing honey hue but proved vulnerable to London pollution, particularly before the Clean Air Acts brought to an end the choking smog known as pea soupers.
There are now 14 miles of pipework and an estimated 250 miles of cables across the estate, much of it no longer functional. The building is riddled with asbestos; the heating is steam powered, which explains why the offices are always freezing.
If repairing parliament is allowed to remain in the too-difficult box, it will be a damning indictment of Britain’s capacity to resolve problems.
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