Big Ben reprieve as officials order rethink

PARLIAMENTARY authorities last night performed a dramatic about-turn over the decision to silence Big Ben for four years following an intervention from the Prime Minister.

Officials announced that the plan to stop Big Ben ringing until 2021 was now under review. Theresa May joined a growing chorus of opposition and urged John Bercow, the Speaker, to find a way to ensure Big Ben continues to ring out during renovation.

The bell is being taken out of action to protect the hearing of workers. Mrs May said: “Of course we want to ensure people’s safety at work but it can’t be right for Big Ben to be silent for four years.” Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said that silencing the bell was “not a national disaster or catastrophe”.

The Prime Minister is to be congratulated. “It can’t be right for Big Ben to be silent for four years,” she insisted, on her return to work. That expresses the position perfectly. For this large if slightly cracked bell is, as we said on Monday, “synonymous with Britain”. Its chimes did not stop in the Second World War, even when the Commons was bombed. Careless parliamentary committees acquiesced in the planned silence, but the House of Commons is growing uncomfortable at the prospect, since many voters oppose it, as letters to this newspaper reflect. Obfuscations have invoked health and safety, and mechanical complexity, but if things go so awry with Big Ben, imagine the hazards of the impending restoration of the whole Palace of Westminster. Theresa May has spoken for the nation and the Commons should listen.