£4bn plan to renovate Parliament will start next week to head off Notre Dame-style disaster
Andrea Leadsom will kick-start plans to rebuild the Palace of Westminster in May
MINISTERS plan to kick-start the £4billion restoration of Parliament as early as next week after the Notre Dame disaster.
The Sun can reveal that Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom plans to introduce the Restoration and Renewal Bill in May – with sources claiming it could be tabled next Thursday.
The legislation will pave the way for the creation of an independent delivery authority to oversee huge repair job.
It comes amid fresh warnings that people will die if Parliament suffers a blaze on the scale of the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
Ms Leadsom is believed to have urged Theresa May to let her push ahead with the legislation in face-to-face talks last week.
Insiders claim the PM was keen to delay the move after warnings from senior Tories that using taxpayers’ money on Parliament would incense voters.
Speaking in the Commons today, Labour’s Chris Bryant said: “Thank God the fire at Notre Dame didn’t lead to a loss of life.
"If we had a fire in this building - parts of which are considerably older than Notre Dame - we may not be so lucky as we have 9,000 people who work here every day. It is time we used Notre Dame as a wake-up call.
“We can’t have the French rebuilding Notre Dame in five years and us still be thinking about leaving (Parliament) ten years’ later.”
Ms Leadsom responded that she had lobbied the PM recently – and told Mr Bryant “watch this space” over a date for the legislation.
EVACUATION STATIONS
The delivery authority would be charged with overseeing the evacuation of MPs and peers from the crumbling Palace of Westminster in 2022 – and start of repair work in 2026.
Ads for a £200,000-a-year chief exec for the authority are due to be go public in the coming days.
The Sun last week revealed a committee of grandees – led by former Tory Cabinet Minister Dame Caroline Spelman – are proposing to delay the start of work to 2028. The decaying palace – rebuilt in 1840 after a devastating fire – contains a huge network of ventilation shafts and floor voids.
They create ideal conditions for fire and smoke to spread rapidly.
MOST READ IN POLITICS
Fire safety officers now patrol the building 24 hours a day.
Iain Paisley Jr, a former member of the cross-party restoration committee, told The Sun: “We are sitting on a ticking timebomb.
“If we don’t hurry up and evacuate we will have a Notre Dame on our hands, it’s just a question of time.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours