Taxpayers have forked out nearly £60,000 on new trees for MPs in Westminster, after the last lot were removed following their inability to stay upright.
Twelve fig trees, which insisted on frequently falling over, were removed from the atrium of Portcullis House in 2022 – but not before the Commons spent more than £500,000 on trying to keep them alive.
The previous trees were imported back in 2000 after the Portcullis House building had already run way over budget and missed its opening deadline.
In February new trees and plant pots appeared in the key MP meeting and coffee space. A freedom of information request has now revealed the trees once again came in at an eye-watering figure.
Taxpayers coughed up £41,082 for the new trees, plants, soil and pots, with a further £7,450 for installation.
Both figures are excluding VAT, meaning the total cost of the new decor came to £58,238.40.
Asked whether Parliament has undertaken any green-fingered measures to ensure the new greenery won’t succumb to the same morbid end as their plant predecessors, the House of Commons said they do “not hold a formal horticultural assessment for this in the way specified”.
The news comes just six days after the Express revealed parliament had splashed £260,000 of taxpayer cash on new netting in Portcullis House, in an attempt to prevent the glass roof cracking and falling on visitors and staff.
The netting was installed after an embarrassing incident last year, when a panel fractured and dumped a gallon of rainwater on unsuspecting staff.
After the health and safety nightmare, the Commons announced it would be undertaking new safety mitigations after the immediate repair works last year.
The new mesh netting, installed under the atrium roof of Portcullis House (PCH), will hopefully provide “an additional layer of protection” for MPs and aides.
The exorbitant cost of both the trees and netting comes after warnings the restoration and renewal project in the main 19th-century palace could cost £22billion and take 76 years.
The grand Portcullis House building came in at a total cost of £235 million and was completed nine years behind schedule.
The total was £60 million over that originally budgeted, and it’s seen a number of serious breakages since then.
In 2016, a 12-month £210,000 technical study commission by the House of Commons said the roof was “stable and posed no safety risk”.
The report said “breakages would reduce over time”, but warned up to £1.5 million may have to be spent repairing the glass-panelled roof.
A year later, it was warned that the bill could in fact come to £100 million.
