Plague of moths puts Parliament’s art and textile treasures at risk

Parliament is suffering from an infestation of moths, posing a “serious risk” to furnishings and artworks.

Nearly 20,000 moths were “detected” in Parliament last year, up from 12,000 in 2010. In 2016, £9,000 was spent on deterrents and authorities have installed 730 “moth monitoring devices”.

Earlier this week, Lord Vaux, a cross-bench peer, said: “Given that nothing looks like happening soon, could we put aside some time during a recess to have the building fumigated?

“I am starting to worry... that if I sit still for too long in this chamber, I’ll stand up to discover my clothes have been turned into lace.”

One of the largest collections of contemporary art textiles in public ownership is also at risk from infestation.

Parliamentary authorities said: “The clothes-moths population needs to be controlled to prevent damage to furnishings, including Pugin furnishings, and textiles.all are irreplaceable, and it is more costeffective to prevent this damage in the first place by controlling moth populations.”