A full restoration of Parliament is being “kicked down the road” risking a major disaster, it has been warned.
Labour former cabinet minister Lord Hain again highlighted “a real danger of a Notre Dame-type inferno or something worse” unless urgent action was taken.
Raising the issue at Westminster, the peer, who served as Commons leader for two years during his time as an MP, said fires “break out all the time” on the world-renowned estate, while hazardous asbestos was “everywhere”.
The debate over how to revamp the Houses of Parliament has been ongoing for years as the cost of the multibillion-pound project has spiralled alongside concerns about the condition of the historical buildings on the world heritage site.
The basement of the palace has previously been branded the “cathedral of horror” because of the underground tangle of pipes, cables and wiring, with key services inaccessible, buried behind layers of more recent installations.
MPs and peers had agreed in 2018 a plan that would see both the Commons and Lords move to temporary facilities near the existing site, a “full decant” to allow essential repairs and upgrades to be made.
But this was subsequently revisited amid concerns about the cost.
Three options are currently being developed to preserve the Palace of Westminster, ranging from temporarily relocating both Houses, keeping the Commons onsite while temporarily relocating the Lords, or conducting a rolling programme of works “to deliver enhanced maintenance and improvement”.
All the proposals are expected to cost billions of pounds, with estimates previously ranging from £7 billion to £22 billion.
The detailed work is expected to be presented to MPs and peers by the end of 2025 “to enable an evidence-based decision on how best to restore the palace”.
The Lords senior deputy speaker Lord Gardiner of Kimble told peers on Wednesday: “Subject to those decisions, any significant decant would not begin in this Parliament, as the programme would commence with procurement, planning applications and enabling works.”
Speaking outside the chamber afterwards, Lord Hain said: “Clearly the can is still being kicked down the road. Parliament should get on with it or there’s a real risk of a major disaster.”
Earlier, he warned Parliament: “Fires break out all the time. Hazardous asbestos is everywhere.
“Would he (the senior deputy speaker) confirm that there’s a real danger of a Notre Dame-type inferno or something worse, unless something is done soon and both Houses of Parliament decant as soon as possible to allow a full restoration and renewal of the whole palace?”
He pointed out this had previously been assessed to be the cheaper option “offering the best value for taxpayers’ money”.
Responding, Lord Gardiner said: “Fire safety is of critical importance, and there has been significant work to the palace.
“A major programme of fire safety works was concluded in 2021 which amounted to approximately £130 million of investment.
“Parliament actively manages the risks of asbestos.
“This does not negate the imperative of making progress to safeguard this unique building for future generations.”
He noted Parliament’s maintenance and repair bill was currently running at £1.45 million a week.
Labour peer Lord Harris of Haringey said: “I suspect there is a consensus in this chamber that we should be getting on with this rather than the constant delay.
“But I do understand why there will perhaps be some MPs who are concerned about what will be the huge costs involved, even if we go for the cheapest of the options, which is a full decant.”
He question whether a case was being prepared to show how the spending on the mammoth project would benefit the country through procurement and employment opportunities in order “to demonstrate this is part of delivering growth for the nation, rather than simply some frivolous expenditure on parliamentarians”.
Lord Gardiner said a recent survey showed a majority of the public “supported the preserving of the building for future generations”.
He said: “I think we should have confidence that this is a building that represents across the world a very important feature – democracy – and how that should function and flourish.”
He pointed out it would be “one of the most dramatic restoration projects across the world” and stressed the need to “get on with it as soon as is possible”.
Lord Gardiner added: “I will also say that it’s really important we learn lessons from what other parliaments are doing.
“And that’s why we are in dialogue with the Austrians, the Dutch and the Canadians, where they have had experience of renovation of parliaments, and indeed in our own country, with Buckingham Palace and Manchester Town Hall.”
