Union outcry over working conditions in parliament

Trains, hospitals and schools – there are few aspects of British life left untouched by the winter of discontent. And now Steerpike hears rumblings of industrial discontent at the heart of British democracy itself: in the Houses of Parliament itself. Long-suffering staffers have had to endure months of vermin-infested kitchens, crumbling masonry and asbestos aplenty. Now power cuts over the past two days in the One Parliament Street building have pushed some of those working on the parliamentary estate to the brink.

The GMB branch for Members’ staff is now gathering signatures for a letter to the Serjeant at Arms, outlining their urgent concerns. ‘One Parliament Street’, they write ‘is becoming increasingly unfit for purpose and it is only a matter of time before an occupant is seriously injured or becomes unwell as a direct result of its defects.’ They lambast the ‘near-farcical situation’ whereby ‘MPs and their staff are being suddenly plunged into darkness and the freezing cold for several hours.’