BONG OUT OF ORDER
£500,000 bill for Big Ben to ring on Brexit Day is 35 times more than cost at New Year
TORY MPs last night demanded a Commons vote to ensure Big Ben bongs for Brexit on January 31.
Their call came as it emerged that the £500,000 officials claim it would cost is more than 35 times the bill for chiming the iconic bell on New Year’s Eve.
Members of the public have already poured £228,000 into a fund to meet the expense. But bureaucrats are still fighting the idea, saying that beside the cost it is too late to carry out the necessary work. The House of Commons Commission revealed yesterday that reactivating Big
Ben’s Great Bell, currently silenced by refurbishment work, cost taxpayers just £14,200 on Remembrance Sunday and on December 31.
Tory MP Mark Francois is leading the campaign to make Big Ben bong at 11 on Brexit night, the moment set by Brussels time when the UK officially leaves the EU. He said: “For the officials on the commission, this is turning into a train crash.
“Number 10 must now surely step in and table a motion on the Commons order paper on Monday to take back control of the situation from these bungling bureaucrats to ensure that Big Ben will now bong for Brexit and the Government will underwrite the cost.”
Peter Bone, another Tory Brexiteer MP, said: “It is common sense that the bell is rung.We want to celebrate leaving the European superstate.
“I hope there is a motion on this on Monday and, if so, I will be proud to walk through the Lobby in support of making Big Ben bong.”
A Government source said: “We had not anticipated the complications involved in this. Even if there is a Commons vote, it is unlikely there will be time to organise anything.We are now focused on our own proposals to mark this historic moment.”
Downing Street unveiled a package of proposals for marking Brexit night including flying flags in Parliament Square and projecting a countdown clock on the facade of 10 Downing Street.
Erupted
But public support is mounting for Big Ben to ring out after Boris Johnson himself coined the phrase: “Bung a bob for a Brexit bong.”
By last night, the appeal set up by Mr Francois and the Stand Up 4 Brexit group to crowd-fund the cash needed had raised more than £228,000 from more than 11,500 supporters.
Eurosceptic donor Arron Banks and his Leave Means Leave campaign gave £50,000 to the fund yesterday.
The extraordinary row erupted earlier this week when the Commons Commission, a committee of MPs and officials that oversees parliamentary administration, claimed reactivating Big Ben could cost up to £500,000.
The commission then admitted that triggering the bell on Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve cost taxpayers only a tiny amount.
In an answer to a written parliamentary question tabled by Mr Francois, senior Tory MP Sir Paul Beresford wrote on behalf of the commission: “The costs associated with striking Big Ben on Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve in 2019 were £14,200 includingVAT on each occasion.
“The striking of Big Ben on these occasions was coordinated around the planned works so as to minimise the impact on the project costs and to ensure it did not result in any delay. If the project team are required to strike the bell with less notice, the costs would substantially increase.”
And a spokesman for the Commons said: “The striking of Big Ben on these occasions was coordinated around the planned works.
“If the project team are required to strike the bell with less notice, the costs would substantially increase due to the unexpected impact on the project schedule.
“The estimated cost is £120,000 to sound the bell, plus circa £100,000 for each week of delays.
“This estimate is based on the fixed cost of installing, testing, operating and dismantling the temporary mechanism used to sound the bell during the works, plus an allowance for each week that work on the project is delayed. As such, the minimum cost of sounding Big Ben would be £320,000 but could be up to £500,000.”
In response, Mr Francois said: “I have always suspected that these costs were inflated but I never dreamt it was 35 fold! What was becoming an embarrassment is now evolving into a scandal.”
Officials say they want to discourage further bong donations because there is no mechanism for accepting the money raised.
But with cash continuing to flood in, Stand Up 4 Brexit founder Rebecca Ryan and Mr Francois said in a joint statement: “We’re a third of the way there! As you’ll have seen on the campaign, if we don’t make the target donations will go to Help for Heroes. But stand firm.
“People power is overcoming the reticence of the British establishment to demonstrate pride in our own country. Every single donation is a poke in the eye for our mandarin class who are clearly reluctant to celebrate our becoming a free country again.
“The response has been incredible. People are really getting behind the campaign and voting with their wallets to show how important it is that we properly mark the moment we leave the EU, and take a bold step out into the world as a free, independent and optimistic nation.”