Safety fears
The alleged attack on a parliamentary worker is likely to renew debate over the safety of Westminster’s bars, which have been repeatedly criticized over an unhealthy drinking culture.
A group of Labour MPs recently called for restrictions on the sale of alcohol on the parliamentary estate as part of a drive to modernize the working culture of the House of Commons.
The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme — the U.K. parliament’s official complaints system — has described the “culture of drinking in Westminster” as a “frequent factor” in conduct-breaching incidents in the parliamentary bars.
Jawad Raza from the FDA trade union, which represents staff in parliament, said the alleged incident was “deeply concerning” in “a workplace for thousands of staff, with hundreds of public visitors also on-site every day.”
Raza called on the parliamentary authorities to “assess the risks and take immediate action to prevent this happening again.”
Fellow union rep Jenny Symmons, chair of the GMB Members’ Staff branch in parliament, said the report “will understandably cause fear and distress across the parliamentary community, and with every story of abuse that makes headlines, there are likely to be more that go untold.”