Reposted by Mark D’Arcy
It was great to welcome the "Parliament Matters" podcast to "the political studies powerhouse that is Queen Mary University of London".
Featuring the brilliant @ruthfox.bsky.social @darcyxtip.bsky.social @cathhaddon.bsky.social & @danielgover.bsky.social, plus me going tonto on billionaire donors.
![Ruth Fox: Yeah and just going back to that question of the state of the public finances, I'm gonna speculate that one decision that will not be made probably by Parliament, before Christmas, but really ought to be is the future of the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster. Again, another theme that we keep revisiting. We have been told in statement after statement that a vote will be held on the future of the restoration and renewal program, and whether or not MPs and peers are going to leave the Palace of Westminster to enable the refurbishment work to take place over a number of years or not, or whether there'll be a partial decant, the Lords will move out and the Commons will move into the Lords. So a number of different scenarios are in play. We are promised that there will be a report and a vote by the end of this year. But given that the leader of the House of [00:37:00] Commons and a key figure on the restoration and renewal governance side has recently changed, of course, once Lucy Powell was removed from cabinet and replaced by the then Chief Whip Officer Alan Campbell. I do rather think that, that again could be kicked into the long grass a bit further.
Mark D'Arcy: It's one of these things where they keep promising there'll be a debate in due course and a report in due course, and then it doesn't appear and it's just kicked, as you say, further and further into the long grass.
And in the meantime, the Palace of Westminster is essentially being held together with spit and sawdust and running repairs. And there's a risk of fire or some structural collapse and bits of gargoyle falling on people, sewers, whatever it might be, breaking, the sewers bubbling up. I would say that that turns the place into a living metaphor and all sorts of disasters could befall it.
And of course, when you have the state opening of Parliament, just imagine what would happen if the lights went out in the middle of that, leaving His Majesty stranded in darkness as …](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wqg5mu5hw5q55lofaod6u32s/bafkreicabblezucuqrjq3mwa3jkvmepvucn3vckvcldwwdar7dnrlxwep4)
