Peers’ Entrance Security Door

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd July 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord Gardiner of Kimble)]

My Lords, I think the House takes that in the spirit and the manner in which the noble Lord made those remarks. Both, in their way, are serious. Obviously, the tragedy of what happened in Grenfell Tower remains with us always, but clearly the security imperative of protecting everyone in this Palace is also paramount. We need to ensure that it is value for money and that the wretched thing then works.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, previously I said, slightly tongue in cheek, that going for the best is often a problem in terms of protection. There is a real risk of going for more and more to protect us, but in the final analysis we cannot totally protect everyone. We talk about looking at where goods will be held, but that is going to cost another £10 million to £15 million. We have to be really careful; do we really need these things? I am afraid there is an element of risk that we all have to take, and that is part of life.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord Gardiner of Kimble)]

The noble Lord makes a powerful point. Clearly, there is always an important balance between access and security; they are key considerations as we as parliamentarians, and others who work here, need to do our work. We need to reflect on this area, and, particularly regarding the Peers’ Entrance, on the balance between security, access and users who seek to use the entrance.