Commons chaos of the MPS who burn their toast

GUY Fawkes attempted to blow up Parliament with gunpowder more than 400 years ago, but today the biggest threat to the Commons is likely to come from burning toast and dirty ovens.

Fire officers had to give occupants of the Speaker’s residence cooking tips after being called over charred food.

They also had to deal with alarms over carbonised toast and blazes sparked by filthy ovens, according to incident logs.

Last year’s catastrophic fire at Paris’ Notre-dame Cathedral sparked fears that the creaking Palace of Westminster could be destroyed in a similar inferno.

Meanwhile, plans to vacate the Commons and the Lords to allow major restoration work to go ahead have been cast in doubt because of the price tag of around £4billion. Details of incidents on the parliamentary estate obtained through a Freedom of Information request reveal the scale of the risk.

Fire officers had to deal with MPS’ burnt toast four times between 2017 and 2019, including twice on just one day. In 2017 they were called out to a fire in a dirty oven in Portcullis House, where many MPS have their offices. The following year a fire broke out there when a plastic bin bag touched the hot underside of an oven. In 2019 they went to the Speaker’s residence after food was burnt. The occupants were “advised to watch cooking food at all times”. Fire officers have also handled dangers posed by plugs and sockets, microwave ovens and malfunctioning equipment.

On each occasion when confronted with burnt toast they put up a sign “to remind staff not to leave toaster unattended”.

The restoration and renewal of the Palace is the biggest and most complex renovation of a heritage building ever undertaken in the UK.

Work has started on surveys and inspections throughout the Palace to better understand the condition of the building.

It is home to thousands of treasures and an archive dating back to the 15th century. All these items will be protected.

The House of Commons is likely to move to the Northern Estate onwhitehall.

The House of Lords is expected to move to the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, opposite Westminster Abbey. However, there has been speculation that York could be a destination.