Stunned MPs were forced to take cover after the roof of an office building in Parliament cracked open - as a "flood of water" gushed out into a huge pool on the floor.
It left a gaping hole just bigger than a cricket ball in the roof of Portcullis House (PCH), with glass fragments visible on the floor beneath the hole. Parliamentary staff cleared the area while the damage was inspected, with hundreds of staff, MPs and journalists asked to move along.
Mervyn Thomas, a researcher for the Bishop of Guildford, who had been sat in PCH when the glass pane fell in, said there had been a big bang followed by a flood of water through the roof. He said: "I was just sitting here and I just suddenly heard this huge bang and then a flood of water."
Mr Thomas added: "A huge deluge, it was a big bang, I didn't know what it was, and then it carried on, it slowly went down to a trickle eventually." He said he did not think anyone was hurt, adding: "I saw people scattering but I don't know if anybody was soaked through or not. I should imagine they were... in fact I was going to go sit over there, I chose not to fortunately."
The witness said parliamentary authorities had cleared the area of people "within minutes". "There were people there within minutes clearing the chairs back, but the actual barriers were, I guess, within five minutes," he said.
The modern extension to the Palace of Westminster was opened in 2001 but has suffered problem after problem. Questions have long been raised over the use of taxpayers' money to fund the £235million building. PCH is made up of 213 offices for MPs and committee rooms surrounding a central atrium which is frequented by gossiping politicians, journalists and staffers.
The atrium is made up of expensive leather sofas and seats - which cost £28,000 - as well as the Debate canteen, a small restaurant called the Adjournment and a coffee bar named the Despatch Box. The glass box - which gets to sweltering temperatures in the summer - is connected to the nearly a thousand-year-old Houses of Parliament by a tunnel and escalators under the road next to Big Ben.
Speaking about the leak, Rishi Sunak's spokesman said: "I haven't seen the detail of exactly what's happened there. It's for the Parliamentary authorities to address in the first instance."
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “Teams are currently attending to an issue with the atrium roof in Portcullis House. The central part of the atrium has been cordoned off, with additional safety mitigations implemented to allow us to continue our investigations. Committee meetings are still scheduled to take place, with amended access routes. Catering facilities remain open."
The leak is likely to spark fears taxpayers will have to foot the bill again. In 2018, it was mooted that taxpayers could be walloped with a jumbo £100million bill to patch up PCH. A crumbling glass panel was the latest in a catalogue of catastrophes which have alarmed Westminster chiefs.
At the time, Sir Vince Cable said project teams behind the £235million flop should be sued to protect Joe Public from picking up the tab. The Lib Dem leader wrote to Commons Speaker John Bercow asking him to review whether architects Hopkins and structural engineers Arup are to blame. If so, he wanted “to take the necessary legal action for damages to recoup costs to the taxpayer”.
In 2014, nearly £30,000 of taxpayers’ money was splashed out on replacing just two panes of glass at the office block for MPs. The staggering sum went on repairing the roof of the atrium - which is once again broken again.
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