By Jessica Frank-Keyes
MPs have raised concerns over the security of the proposed Holocaust Memorial in Westminster, including calling for 24/7 security and warning of the potential for “explosive devices”.
Parliament backed a bill last summer that would enable a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, close to the Houses of Parliament.
The legislation is still being scrutinised by a select committee of MPs, who heard evidence today from Conservatives opposed to the plans’ current location, expected to cost £139m.
Nickie Aiken, MP for Westminster and the City of London, who spoke out against the plans, warned of “ongoing security issues” for the project.
“We are now seeing issues in the Middle East which are having a serious knock on effect in this country, particularly in Westminster, which is obviously the heart of government and we do see ongoing protests,” she said.
“Who is going to cover the costs of security? It’s going to have to be 24/7 – who is going to cover the costs, how much is that cost going to be and is it appropriate to ask the taxpayer to pay that?”
Aiken also queried whether the government would provide alternative green spaces for families with children, particularly in social housing, who rely on the park as a place to play.
Sir Peter Bottomley also warned of security risks.
He asked: “If you deliberately try to gather people together – where a lot of them will be Jewish – and someone wants to make a demonstration, what’s to stop someone just taking an explosive device and dropping it from around the Buxton Memorial into the gathering place by the learning centre?”
Bottomley also stressed there could be issues with the site “not [being] accessible unless you have gone through scanners – in a park, which is supposed to be walk-in, walk-out”.
Labour MP and committee member Keir Mather queried the concerns.
He said: “Surely the argument that having a Holocaust Memorial there is inappropriate because anti-Semites might seek to cause a disturbance there doesn’t stack up with the government’s ambition to provide a safe and secure place for Jewish people to be able to commemorate the suffering their community has faced?
“Shouldn’t we be creating that space for that to happen regardless of the fact that other people might seem to undermine it?”
Bottomley insisted: “We want to have education, we want to have people working together, we want to have a memorial.
“That doesn’t justify almost the worst proposal… at a cost out of control, on a timescale inappropriate to them now saying they want it done while Holocaust survivors are alive.”
And Aiken responded that she was a “great supporter” of the plans for the memorial, but simply believed it was proposed in the “wrong location”, due to factors including flood risks.
The bill, sponsored by the Department for Levelling Up, will continue to be scrutinised by members on the select committee and across the two chambers.
