Parliament just got warned it risks a catastrophic fire if MPs keep delaying
4 November 2026 · 4 November 2026Share
Panoramic view of the Palace of Westminster, Elizabeth Tower and Westminster Bridge from across the River Thames. File photo. Domob · CC BY-SA 4.0
MPs are warning that Parliament itself is at risk.
So what's the worst case? A fire like the one at Notre-Dame. Or the King left standing in the dark at the State Opening, because the building's own systems have failed.
That warning comes from the Public Accounts Committee. It published its findings earlier today.
Here's the headline line from the report: without action, Parliament ends up in managed decline at best. At worst, something catastrophic happens.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown chairs the committee. He's a Conservative MP. And he says quote "real and rising risks".
He says the committee first flagged this three years ago.
So why does nothing happen? Well, here's the thing. Waiting is not free.
Parliament already spends one and a half million pounds a week just keeping the building standing. That's about to rise to two million pounds a week.
And on top of that, every year MPs delay deciding how to fix the building properly adds four hundred and twenty million pounds to the final bill.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown put it plainly. He says each kick of the can down the road costs hundreds of millions in public money.
So that's the man who runs the spending watchdog telling his own colleagues that waiting is the expensive choice, not the safe one.
Now, this isn't new. MPs first voted to leave the building back in 2018 so repairs could happen. That's eight years ago. And they still haven't agreed how.
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Aerial view of Westminster. File photo. Alan Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0
There were four options on the table. MPs and peers are now being asked to cut that down to two.
Option one: everyone moves out. A full decant. That costs up to fifteen point six billion pounds, and takes up to twenty four years.
Option two: a staged or partial decant. People stay closer to the building for longer. The reports on the PAC's figures put the cost somewhere between thirty nine and forty billion pounds, lasting between thirty eight and sixty one years.
Either way, the first stage comes first. That means moving MPs and peers into temporary buildings nearby. It's capped at three billion pounds.
Part of that would turn the QEII conference centre into temporary accommodation. That alone costs four hundred and seventeen million pounds. Preparing the northern part of the Parliamentary estate adds about two billion pounds more.
That temporary accommodation is supposed to be ready by 2032. And the committee is warning it might not be.
The next vote, on what's called Phase Two, is expected in 2030.
And here's a complication. The Palace of Westminster is Grade I-listed. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So nobody can just knock it down and start again.
Parliament says the report provides welcome scrutiny. It says work is already happening across the estate to keep people safe right now.
What was not said is when MPs will actually vote on the way forward. That vote has already been delayed once this year.
So here's where it stands. The building that houses British democracy gets more expensive every single week. And the people who run it still haven't agreed how to save it.
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