British lawmakers said on Wednesday the building was dilapidated and faced a “real and growing” risk of collapse.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said in its report that the building, the seat of Britain’s democracy, “experiences water leaks, falling masonry and a constant risk of fire”.
“There is a real and growing risk that this catastrophic situation will lead to the collapse of the building before the long-delayed restoration work is completed,” she added.
In the most urgent warning in a series for many years, the committee said restoration work on the 19th century building, which costs around 2million pounds ($2.5million) a week, was too slow.
The committee criticized “years of procrastination” over the future of the building.
In 2018, after years of dithering, MPs voted to authorize major repairs to the building.
However, the body set up to oversee the restoration of parliament was abolished last year, which exacerbated water leaks from the roof and pieces of masonry sometimes collapsing.
The committee said there had been 44 fires in parliament since 2016 and security guards were now patrolling around the clock.
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