Crowds gather to hear Big Ben’s bong silenced

● Westminster bell chimes noon before being halted for up to four years

Big Ben’s bongs have been silenced as part of a controversial renovation plan that will stop it ringing out for up to four years.

MPS and parliamentary workers gathered to listen as the Great Bell chimed noon before being halted to allow work to begin.

Parliament bowed to pressure last week when it announced it would review the plans, which will silence the bell for the longest period in its 157-year history, after Prime Minister Theresa May joined an MPS’ outcry against the move.

Hundreds of people watching from inside the parliamentary estate and outside its perimeter clapped and cheered as noon was struck.

Labour’s Stephen Pound said it was a “desperately sad” moment and said the decision showed a “real poverty of imagination. Mr Pound conceded the backlash had become a little over the top.

Asked if he was partly responsible for that, he replied: “In my small way to contribute to the chimes of freedom ringing out, I put my hand up.”

“In many ways I think we are in danger of losing something that we don’t actually realise and value enough at the moment.”

The 13.7-tonne Great Bell was last stopped for maintenance in 2007 and before that was halted for two years in 1983 for refurbishment, but has been stopped on a number of other occasions since it first sounded in 1859. Parliamentary officials have insisted workers’ hearing would be put at “serious risk” if the bell continued chiming.

They warned that those using the 100-metre-high scaffolding around the tower could also be startled by the 118-decibel bongs. The House of Commons Commission – which is made up of MPS, officials, lay members, and chaired by Speaker John Bercow – will review the timescale for repairs when Parliament returns after the summer break.

Liberal Democrat Tom Brake, who answers his colleagues’ questions on the Commission’s behalf, said one concession could be allowing Big Ben to chime on more special occasions.

It comes after a trio of Eurosceptic Tory MPS called for Big Ben to bong Britain out of the European Union on Brexit day, expected on 29 March 2019.

Plans were already in place for the bell to chime on New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Day.

Mr Brake said the “longest period of time” the bells might be out of operation is four years and insisted the authorities would want to have them working for unplanned national events such as royal funerals.