A secret nuclear bunker underneath Whitehall could delay Parliament’s restoration project, MPs have warned.
MPs are planning to use 79 Whitehall as a temporary debating chamber when they leave Westminster. The multibillion-pound project has caused concerns as the Ministry of Defence’s crisis command centre, is at the centre of concerns, over planned use of the department’s car park, at Richmond House.
After a committee meeting, plans had been redrawn to now exclude the use of the MoD car park, over “security reasons.”
Andrea Leadsom, commons leader said that she “deeply” regrets that cost are already being incurred, and she is working hard to resolve the issue.
She further said, “At the same time, obviously, I think we would all appreciate that if there are very genuine issues of national security at stake then of course those must be accommodated.
“But if that is the case, we do need a very clear direction soon, because the delay in that clear decision is itself costing time and effort and money.
Labour former cabinet minister Lord Blunkett, a member of the committee said, “Let’s be clear so that we don’t mislead anybody: we all know that there’s been a bunker under there, we’ve known that there’s one in Gloucestershire as well.
“I used to say when I was home secretary, the last place on God’s Earth I’d want to be, let alone take my family, would be the bunker under the MoD. I mean it is insane.
“People have just got to get real on this and come into the real world.”
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