Westminster struggles on despite snow
By politics.co.uk staff
Parliament is struggling through a shortened day after some of the worst snowfall in the UK for 20 years.
Most of its functions have gone ahead as usual but MPs, researchers and civil servants faced the same difficulties getting to work as everyone else, and today’s business is proceeding with minimal attendance.
With the country grinding to a halt in the snow, Gordon Brown used his joint press conference with Chinese premier Wen today to say: “We’re doing everything we can to make sure services are open as soon as possible and we’ll be working on this throughout the day.”
And later in the day his spokesman responded to a question about the city grinding to a halt by observing: “We’re seeing levels of snow we haven’t seen for nearly two decades.”
Even the icy walk from the press conference in the Foreign Office across Whitehall to the Palace of Westminster proved challenging.
Parliamentary officials earlier confirmed to politics.co.uk the House would be sitting as usual this afternoon, and that no committee meetings had been cancelled.
But the Liberal Democrats, who are enjoying their opposition day today, agreed to cut short their motion debates so the House could finish one hour earlier than usual on a Monday.
The snow has caused further problems. The Speaker’s Conference tabled for tomorrow on how to get more women, disabled people and ethnic minority communities into parliament has been cancelled due to “adverse weather conditions”.
“The corridors of parliament are noticeably emptier than usual,” politics.co.uk‘s Westminster correspondent Alex Stevenson said.
“Even lunch proved tricky – with just a handful of the usual bars and restaurants open the queues proved to be very long.”
The cleaners did not arrive in Portcullis House, where one official described the atmosphere as “eerily quiet”. The usually bustling atrium was almost deserted and fallen leaves from the trees lay scattered across its floor.
Elsewhere in Westminster, an unconfirmed report suggested some staff at the Department of Work and Pensions had been sent home to “enjoy the snow”.
A speech by David Cameron on education was relocated to take place at Conservative campaign headquarters, due to the closure of Haberdasher’s Aske’s Hatcham College because of the snow.
And a speech by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg at the IPPR thinktank was cancelled.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson confirmed the congestion charge was suspended for today. Despite this, traffic around Parliament Square remained unusually quiet.
Asked why the city had been brought to such a standstill, Mr Johnson told BBC News: “The gritting has been done. The trouble is you can salt it but then the snow comes down again.
“The risk of releasing the buses is that if they skid they can become a lethal weapon.”
But the Liberal Democrats weren’t convinced by the official line.
Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker said: “It is an absolute disgrace that the country’s transport networks are unable to cope with bad weather.
“The lack of preparedness is astounding and damaging for the economy.”
Most of the UK has been blanketed by heavy snow throughout last night and today, with Arctic conditions turning the country into a picturesque winter wonderland.
Up to 30cm of snow is forecast as the Met Office warns that further snowfalls are likely throughout Monday and into Tuesday.
London and the south-east have been especially hard hit by the extreme weather, which follows warnings of cold air arriving from Russia in Britain.
The snowfall is Britain’s heaviest for almost two decades, but councils are insisting snow ploughs and gritters are out in force.
Rush-hour commuters found their journeys severely disrupted this morning, while schools are being closed across the south-east.
