Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Put off upgrade urges MP Gray
SNP member wanted cheaper options on table
Neil Gray says plans to vacate and fully refurbish the Houses of Parliament at a cost of £4 billion should be postponed until full consideration has been given to other, cheaper options – including constructing a new building.
The Airdrie & Shotts MP was a member of the joint working group comprising seven MPs and five members of the House of Lords, which was convened to explore how best Westminster should be renovated.
It published its report and conclusions last week – recommending that the Palace of Westminster be completely vacated for up to six years, with politicians and staff decanted to other nearby facilities, while the major renovation work is carried out.
Mr Gray had unsuccessfully proposed at the committee’s final session that it instead continue its deliberations “until it has given full consideration to the possibility of constructing a permanent new Parliamentary building, while finding an alternative future use for the Palace of Westminster ... before making a recommendation about the best option”.
However, it did not gain the support of his committee colleagues, who went on to recommend the full decant to allow major improvements to the building’s mechanical and electrical systems, such as pipes, cabling, heating and water, some of which are around seven decades old.
Mr Gray told the Advertiser: “There’s no doubt that works need to be done to the Palace of Westminster – there’s asbestos, the basement is an absolute mess, and it follows on from decades of neglect when it hasn’t been maintained properly
“However, a decision was made in 2012, with little scrutiny by the overseeing bodies of the two Houses, that Parliament will be in the Palace of Westminister for evermore and will stay there regardless of the works that need done.
“My problem with that is that no scrutiny was given on whether a new- build parliament would be better or make more financial sense; we have to crowbar a modern parliament into a Victorian building, and I can’t support the report’s conclusions when we haven’t exhausted all the options.
“This is a massive, era-defining decision of huge historical significance, and this is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country, along with HS2 and Cross Rail.
“I don’t think, at a time of significant austerity – when women born in the 1950s are being told that transition pensions can’t be afforded and when the Tory government is telling people that foodbanks are part of society – that spending £ 4 billion on the parliament is the right priority at this time.”
Now due to go forward to both houses for debate, the committee’s report says: “There is a substantial and growing risk of either a single catastrophic event or a succession of incremental failures which would lead to Parliament no longer being able to occupy the Palace.
“The patch-and-mend approach is no longer sustainable – unless an intensive programme of major remedial work is undertaken soon, it is likely that the building will become uninhabitable.”
Mr Gray added: “I’ve made sure the report has a suggestion that if the programme is passed by the two Houses, that there are reports back to Parliament at six-month intervals to make sure the project doesn’t over-run or go over budget.
“Other options needed to be explored; but a decant is one aspect I did support, from the three ways the work could be done.
“If this is going ahead that would be the best way of doing it, to get everybody out and get the work done rather than doing so around a sitting Parliament.
“The talk in London is that if there’s a full decant, there would be changes to traditions and processes; and that would be no bad thing in my book.”
This was a horrible week for Airdrie Citizens Advice Bureau.
The local CAB has been hit with a massive 48 per cent drop in its funding following North Lanarkshire Council’s latest budget cuts.
During the recent Policy and Resource Committee meeting, the council’s leadership refused to see sense and reverse the proposals, meaning that Airdrie CAB will struggle to offer its invaluable services to the people of the town.
Aaliya Seyal and her fantastic staff galvanised more than 1300 people to sign a petition and elected council members received more than 250 letters urging that the service be maintained; however North Lanarkshire Council still decided to press ahead with the £60,350 cut.
How this could possibly be the correct decision remains a mystery to me.
Last year, Airdrie CAB helped its clients to save more than £1,600,000 – most of which goes straight back into the local economy. This sum is vastly greater than the £124,000 amount of current funding from the council.
To expect the staff at Airdrie CAB to continue providing the fantastic work they do on almost half the funding is short-sighted, to say the least.
North Lanarkshire Council stated that their own Money Matters team will deal with the majority of issues so people would not be adversely affected.
They must know that this isn’t the case. If you are having rent or council tax issues do you really want to have one council department negotiating with another one on your behalf?
CAB offers an independent advice service which, when you are facing sheriff officers or eviction, is exactly what you want to have.
Let’s be absolutely crystal clear on who wielded the axe. These cuts are not due to the change in the Scottish Government grant, which has been reduced by less than one percent of North Lanarkshire Council’s overall budget.
One per cent compared to 48 per cent being passed on to CAB – think about that for a second.
These cuts are purely and simply the result of poor decisions taken locally, such as dragging workers’ equal pay claims through budget-busting legal challenges.
The council must look at this again and reconsider what could be fatal cuts to our local CAB.
People locally rely on CAB more than ever since former Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity agenda came into force.
Following his resignation as an MP last week, I want to pay ‘tribute’ to his legacy.
Whilst the Tory Party wax lyrical about the “courageous” stands he made on austerity, Brexit and social security cuts, many of us look on in disbelief.
What is courageous in cutting services and welfare assistance to those in need? The Bedroom Tax, disability employment support (ESA WRAG) being cut by almost £30 per week, women’s pension age being changed with little or no warning, the two child tax credit policy or the ‘rape clause’ - the list seems almost inexhaustible.
Thank goodness the Scottish Government has seen the folly in the Bedroom Tax and protected folk from those horrendous proposals and will scrap it when the powers arrive to do so.
Then there is Brexit. Three months after the referendum the UK Government still has no idea, no plan and nothing to say about what Brexit means for us.
But as Airdrie CAB’s caseload will testify, while Cameron’s poisoned legacy may be dominated by Brexit, six years of brutal and indiscriminate austerity cuts is what the majority of my constituents will remember him for.