House of Lords: Sittings
Debate between Lord Liddle and Lord Laming
Lord Laming (CB)
My Lords, as chairman of the Services Committee, it would be remiss of me not to remind the House of the very great amount of essential work on this building that will begin tonight once the House rises. Of course if the House wished to continue to sit that would be made possible, but Members will, I am sure, recall that the Services Committee and the House of Commons Administration Committee have been working with Strategic Estates on the next critical stages in the programme of fire and life-safety improvements. That work will involve a great deal of disruption to the Palace over the Summer Recess.
As a result of the work the Library suite will be closed, the kitchens will be closed, the dining areas throughout the Palace will be closed, and work will be undertaken on the Committee Rooms in sequence. Some parts of the building, especially at the Commons end, will be inaccessible. Asbestos removal units in the courtyards will restrict parking and traffic access. In addition there will be ongoing work on the stone courtyards conservation project, including on the tunnel between Royal Court and Chancellor’s Court. Further- more, a large crane is to be used to inspect the stonework on the Victoria Tower, which your Lordships will know recently experienced some problems. This will have an impact on vehicle access to Black Rod’s Garden, and the corridor between Central Lobby and Peers’ Lobby will be closed for retiling throughout the period.
Of course, if the House decided to continue sitting, adjustments to those plans would doubtless be considered and made where necessary. But I emphasise that the fire and life-safety work is important to improve the safety of more than 1 million visitors to this building, who either work in or visit Parliament every year. While the House could therefore function, we should recognise that the work would continue around us and be very disruptive. We should also recognise that some of the services to which we are accustomed are unlikely to operate. If these works were deferred, that decision would come with time and cost consequences.
None of this is to say that the House could not sit if it wished to do so or if a recall was required. Of course it could, but I felt I should remind the House that a lot of planning has been undertaken to make the best use of the opportunity of the Recess, which provides for this essential work to be delivered so that we can maintain our ability to work safely in this 19th-century Palace.
Lord Liddle (Lab)
My Lords, I hope that my noble friend Lord Adonis does not press his Motion, not least for the fact that I am due to go on my holidays on 6 August. However, there is a point in what he is saying which is, essentially, that we are at a very critical point in our nation’s fortunes, as we acknowledged in our debate yesterday. We are possibly moving in the autumn to one of the greatest crises that we have had since the Second World War.
The October European Council will be a critical moment for the future of this country and if we think about the amount of time between now and then, this House and the other place will not be in session for much of it. Yet throughout this period, we are going to see a lot of these no-deal preparedness briefings coming out from the Government, all of which could be quite controversial. We may see statements coming from Brussels; amazingly, Brussels will be working through August with our officials to try to make sense of the Government’s latest proposals. I am particularly concerned about the Conference Recess, from whenever it is in September until October. That gap will come at a point where we will really need, as a House, to focus on what our options are as a country. There are very serious matters raised here and we should all think hard about them.