are going cool on the idea of refurbishing Parliament at all, given the likely public backlash, and would prefer to carry on patching the building up.
The job has been handed to a panel of politicians and infrastructure experts, called the Sponsor Body, which has been urged to get a tighter grip on costs by the National Audit Office, amid fears the final bill will be far higher than £4bn. Boris Johnson has made much of his desire to boost the English regions, and as recently as January, ministers wereLabour MP Mark Tami, who sits on the board of the Sponsor Body, and is a weary veteran of the drawn-out debate about parliamentary restoration, fears the can is being"kicked down the road" once again.
"We didn't get to this point where we are now, with the proposals we have, off the top of our heads."The move-out plan, which would also see members of the House of Lords relocate to the QEII conference centre, opposite Westminster Abbey, was presented as the"best and most cost-effective" option in a report five years ago.
Knock it down and build hospitals Give the money to frontline key workers as a thank you for helping. Call it ‘public health bailout’
I hope so
Oh dear 4billion when people are starving so MPs can sit in a nice surrounding. This country is a figgin joke.
It should be. At least until. Things are back to normal
That's TWO billions less than what they just pledged to overhaul London's cycling infrastructure
Should be scrapped along with HS2.
BBCScotlandNews £4Bn what a joke
Scrap the refit and move Parliament to empty offices in the centre of the country.
Scrap HS2 and there'll be £100billion+ available for any number of refurbs 😮
No longer a priority is it? 🤔
It should be
Scrap the house of gravy lords and save us a fortune
Would love to see the list of tenders and itemised expenditure for a 4 Billion pound re-fit..!!!!! notafuckingchance notneeded isthisactuallyserious
Should be
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how about portacabins good enough for schools more than good enough for that bunch.
Firstly, who's bloody great idea was this to waste money ? 4 billion pounds, is an obscene amount for a refurb. Whoever passes this will not win any votes, if the country was rolling in dough it may be different but we are in for hard times now.
Hopefully. The UK parliament is superfluous. What England needs is an English parliament.
Best to move in to Richmond House as an English Parliament. scrap the Lords and use it as a British assembly
Wembley stadium £1.2 billion 90,000 seats vs 650 in Parliament £4 billion! Really!!!? How about the money to nhs pay rise? piersmorgan
Why would this. It be fixed? I am sure the public sector will have made it as expensive as possible
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 4 billion!? Have a day off will you!! Can’t even get the two faced thieving *uc*ers in their at the moment cause it’s to unsafe cause the old corona, yet they want to send all the schools back and people back to work!🤣🤣 you couldn’t write it!!😂😂😂piersmorgan
Thought building was actually dangerously needing massive infrastructure refurbishment to stop falling masonry, further water damage, rotting wood, reduce fire risk, sort electrics etc. It’s not a chintzy interior deco job primarily is it?
Should be its disgusting waste of money
Yes yes & yes!!!🤬
Full proper refurb is needed, it would cost a lot more in the long run if they just keep patching it up
Yeah, let's stop refurbishing every historical monuments, let's build everything in glass and metal. Easier to maintain. Surely people will travel to come see the beauty of it... sad life the lefties promise us...
No
Unless they build a modern set up, yes it should be scrapped.
Fuckin hope so.
Zoom is cheaper
Replace with zoom
It should be they should meet in a circus tent 🎪
How about that gets spent on paying nurses, they actually do something
Let’s forget our history 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Simply NO it’s our history and heritage UK
So it will probably be destroyed by fire. You pays your money and you takes your choice
Demolish it, we can't afford it now
Move Parliament to the midlands and no second homes for MP’s it will save a fortune
👇😡
We should be building a New Parliament, preferably outside London. It would save an awful lot of money & prove One Nation
lets hope the english are prepared to foot the bill
Yes off course it should be ..
No but taxes will rise and benefits will fall and politicians will look after themselves.
I know someone who’ll do it for less than that.........4 Billion ffs 😷
FOUR BILLION POUNDS, GOD ARE THEY BUILDING IT IN GOLD. How much more money do we have to watch being wasted by this country. When are the priorities going to get right 1.NHS 2 NHS STAFF WAGES. 3 RETIREMENT BACK TO 65 4 REPAIR ALL ROADS 5 REDUCE AMOUNT OF MP'S Get it right NOW.
hopefully along with the bbc
Like hell the Tories need room for there nanny’s in there offices.
Turn it into a museum.
Yes.
4 Billion. Billion!!!!! What will the chamber do? Fly to the moon and back
Of course the work should be carried out. The longer the country whinges and wines the more expensive the work gets. Have we learned nothing ?
£4bn 😱😱😱😱😱😱!!!!!! Cheaper to build a new one surely?!
I’m assuming £4Billion is a typo?
£4bn for refurbishment? Wow 🙄🙄
Let’s hope so
I should bloody well think so too! We the people, whom they are SUPPOSED to serve do not give them the permission to opulently feather their own corrupt nest with OUR money.
The contractors will all have MP’s (from both main parties) as board members. That’s how.
Yes you could put this lot in a shed
Should be, save a few quid.
Yes. In favour of a £10 billion refurb.
It should be. They can work in a serviced office. There will be plenty available after this is over.
I thought we were heading into a recession?... sod right off!
Even if money was available, it would be sacrilege to refit the chamber into that graphic image.
4 bn....piss off..
Im no building expert but if it needs it spent it on ir , it is an iconic building
Let's hope so
Keep the building but get rid of the MPs.
And that's just for the bar they've got
Turn the place into a museum or even a picturesque ruin. Build a modern conference centre style place instead. Spending obscene sums on buildings is often a sign of decline and fall. See Parkinson on the fate of organizations with perfected Head Offices.
How about a new building just for England
Is the renovation money being spent with UK companies and tradesmen? If so it's a perfect project to help our economy regenerate. It needs to be done and spending money with UK businesses is a great solution.
FOUR thousand million
Move it to Milton Keynes , sell the site (on the open market please), and build a new chamber with a max capacity for 250 representatives
just move to Manchester and have a new building which is fit for purpose
Why not use the money to create a bigger social distancing friendly chamber in a lovely new building in the Midlands, bringing Govt to the whole country? Parliament in the middle of the country, fitting in with BorisJohnson policy Jacob_Rees_Mogg CommonsLeader HouseofCommons
Whilst were scrapping that let's get rid of the subsidy's for meals and alcoholic, second homes and retaining relatives as staff. Remember work from home if you can
They need to explain exactly why it would cost such a ridiculous sum. No real need for them to keep using such a tiny chamber. Have them move to or build a modern, environmentally friendly building. And work remotely in the meantime. They may get MPs actually show up then.
4bn 😂 I thought there was no money!!
Just put them in a circus tent 🎪......now that would be appropriate
Is time to spend 4bln?
Considering that they could have a purpose built facility that could house ALL the MP's for a fraction of the cost. Yes!
4bn was being spent on the refurbishment house of commons over 100bn on the train from tax payers! nothing for the NHS nothing!! the government didn't care about people who where refused medication because it was too expensive for children too Boris is disgrace where is he
4 billion? Will be double that by completion just like every other publically funded build. You heard it here first.
BBCScotlandNews Should be and HS2 too. That would help replenish the piggy bank.
Absolutely not. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an international tourist site. Refurbishment is important to protect the building and the people working there. The only reason its criticised is people think it’s a case of politicians looking after themselves
4 Billion? Run that by me again 4 BILLION? for a building with seats? Someone is taking the piss bonny lad...
Should the Palace of Westminster be refurbished? Absolutely. Should money be wasted on building a replica chamber? No. There has to be a building somewhere in the country that can be used temporarily and MPs can forego any pay increase to help out. BorisJohnson 10DowningStreet
Bloody well should be. Its fine as it is.
Nick Knowles could do it for 5 grand.
Yes
Knock the place down and create a car park. Then it will be useful at last.
Did refurb include amending seating etc to stop the braying and screaming at each other? So incredibly outdated.
That's a lot of brown envelopes 🤫
Probly should be
4bn? Ken down the road will do it for £500
How much😲 bet the contractor is rubbing his hands together, and their bank manager. And you can guarantee that the estimate will be inaccurate, as per everything the government, regardless of which one, touches. It's always too low. Never come in on a budget.
Suggest they work from home or only people who have raised Qs. In debates need to attend thus removing the antics of this alleged democracy and exposing those who are not on top of their brief. About time the braying masses were furloughed.
Give it to the NHS to save someone's life.
Of course not. They've found the money tree
Relocate to somewhere cheaper. I bet you'd get a good rate in Hull.
4 billion? What on earth are they doing to it?
Let us hope so That looks God awful
Come on people money is not the issue to the UK government. It’s just not a good time to refurbish Westminster while millions are struggling during this crisis.
Is there a list somewhere of what exactly £4bn would be spent on? I can’t see how anything could cost so much. I had to double check I had not misread it
If we go by the overall infection-level (indicating the risk of becoming infected) rather than the R-rate (useful only to control viral-spreading) then Parliament may become useable soon, provided a basic detection system (beyond current testing) is developed and deployed.
yeah can build something on Manc on Hills cheaper, with new tech, glass, infrastructure piping, VR debate chambers for all four nations of the Union MayorofGM AndyBurnhamGM Keir_Starmer paulmasonnews charliemansell bbcworld Westminster just needs basics for tourist tours
Some of the responses to this are ridiculously reactionary and shortsighted. If it instead it was pitched as ‘should a world heritage site and one of the most recognisable buildings in the world be left to burn to the ground or flood?’ then it might be seen differently.
You either do it or you let it crumble into the Thames, which would be an extremely bad look and the cost to Tourism would outweigh 4bn. It has to be done.
Damn should be! There’s bigger things to think about right now!
Four . . . . . BILLION?
Bloody should be
I could do it for 3.99 billion.... let me know 😀
Is now really the time to be thinking about this? Update the electrics and plumbing only when necessary. A complete refurbishment, NO. Waste of taxpayer money.
Waste of money. Put the money towards paying for the virus and nhs
I mean at this time it should be shelved.
Pre Covid, how often is it seen almost empty, apart from when it's about MPs getting more money? You then have the likes of Jacob_Rees_Mogg laying across benches showing contempt for the process. Of course it should be scrapped.
4bn? Who’s the bloody contractors. Who signs this off. Jesus bloody Christ
I hope so, waste of money
Probably could build a completely new building for less than that
£4bn....that's fucking criminal.
The waiting room
Can we refurbish hospitals instead?
4bn seems excessive. It cost £500M to build the Emirates Stadium after all.
In this economy crash?
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Erm. The roofs leaking for starters, it needs something doing to it.
To be honest it should be we need to keep as much money in the public pot as possible once the virus settles down. MPs can have virtual debates if necessary.
The End
Make them all use Teams and join from home like the rest of us are having to !
Could i have a breakdown of the costs please? I'm sure i could do the same job for significantly less.
Move it to Birmingham and build a parliament fit for the 21st century
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