COMMITTEE WARNS OF NOTRE DAME-STYLE FIRE RISK AT WESTMINSTER

The Public Accounts Committee warned that the Palace of Westminster risks a "Notre Dame-style fire" unless MPs tackle funding for its restoration. The cross-party committee said urgent action was needed to avoid a major fire and curb rising costs. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said there had been a "political allergy" to making decisions on the building. He said MPs should consider the "blow suffered by the UK's morale and reputation" in a catastrophic failure.

The Palace of Westminster is Grade I-listed and a UNESCO world heritage site. Decisions on its full restoration have been repeatedly delayed amid disagreement over how it should be done and spiralling costs, the committee said. Maintenance of the estate currently costs about £1.5m a week, expected soon to reach £2m a week, the committee's report said. A recent estimate put the total cost of restoration at up to £40bn, taking up to six decades. The committee said every year of inaction adds an estimated £420m to the restoration programme. The building has been affected by plumbing failures, leaking roofs and crumbling masonry, with scaffolding in place and 24-hour patrols guarding against fire risk from outdated electrics.

Clifton-Brown said the risks were "not notional possibilities, but real and rising risks." He pointed to the prospect of "global rolling news footage of Notre Dame-like flames licking out of the building's roof, resulting in the destruction of our heritage, or worse, injuries or loss of life." The committee said decisions on the restoration have been treated as a matter for MPs and peers, not the government. No timetable for a decision on the full restoration has been confirmed.