Users of the parliamentary estate have been informed that from Friday this week they won’t be able to charge their electric vehicles in New Palace Yard’s underground car park: “These charging points are due to be removed on health and safety grounds following a review by the Safety and Fire teams, and in consultation with the Chair of the Administration Committee.” Tony Blair will be pleased…
There remain four chargers in Speaker’s Court the use of which a “charging card” will have to be obtained from the Speaker’s Office. Because it’s likely to be so busy – “space to charge in Speaker’s Court also cannot be guaranteed” – palace authorities say you can’t leave EVs overnight and that drivers should “only use charging points on the estate for as long as necessary, moving your vehicle promptly once complete.” Essentially – don’t use the chargers…
To provide reassurance authorities say “longer term, the intention is to increase the capacity for charging electric cars on the estate. However, the number of charging points will be dictated by the emerging electrical vehicle and fire safety guidance, and availability of adequate infrastructure/power.” Stick with your petrol motor for now…
Green Deputy Leader Rachel Millward said:
“The reality is that it’s Zack Polanski who brought the nation, Andy Burnham. And if we hadn’t had the success of the Green Party in this last year since Zack’s been leading, which has been unprecedented, phenomenal success and a growth from about 60,000 members to 230,000, if we hadn’t had that much pressure on Labour, then we’d probably still be in the Starmer regime, which was pretty much ushering in a Reform government with its lurch to the right. So actually, what we’re seeing now is that we’ve set the political agenda and the government is picking that up.”