'Broken Britain': Part 3. The scene of the crime and the list of suspects.

Hard and circumstantial evidence

Chris Johns

The U.K. and disappearing growth

In the first two posts in this series I described the different ways in which Britain appears to be ‘broken’ and looked at some of the different takes on this, often from people with wildly differing perspectives. Unpicking the meme ‘Broken Britain’ is akin to a detective puzzle with lots of suspects and plenty of evidence, some hard but a lot that is circumstantial.

A metaphor - one of many I could have chosen - is the state of the Palace of Westminster, the home of the MPs and peers that govern Britain.

Amanda Akass @amandaakass

In the absence of full restoration, maintenance work to keep the building safe and open costs £2.5m every week- with fire patrols 24/7. One MP told me a gargoyle fell off & smashed into a windscreen (the car was empty) and work is constantly needed to repair the 150yr old masonry

According to this report, an independent “sponsor body” a year ago estimated that restoration work will cost £7-13 billion and take between 19-28 years to complete. MPs voted to move out nearly five years ago to enable the repairs to be completed as quickly and as cheaply as possible, If they don’t move out, costs will rise and the renovations will take 76 years.

That sponsor body has just been voted out of existence. The Public Accounts Committee says there is an “unacceptable cloak of secrecy” surrounding the project and there is no obvious intention to move out.

Poor governance, hopeless planning and ducking tough decisions characterise this project and so much of how modern Britain is governed.