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The man who's in charge of Brexit thinks the repairs on Big Ben's infamous tower are taking far too long.

Without a hint of irony, David Davis - who is currently trying to extend benefits of EU membership for two years beyond his deadline - called the timescale "mad".

The Brexit Secretary joined a host of angry MPs who called the four-year repair project "entirely bonkers" and "ridiculous".

The world's most famous bell's hourly chimes will fall silent from noon next Monday until 2021 as the tower holding it undergoes major repairs.

The silence, the longest in its 158-year history, will be broken only by chimes on New Year's Eve and Remembrance Sunday.

Commons officials insisted it was to protect builders' hearing.

But despite admitting "I haven't been in the details", Mr Davis claimed "there's hardly a health and safety argument," adding: "I think it's mad."

(Image: Getty) (Image: PA)

He told LBC: "I'd forgotten how long it takes to get the approvals for this, the approvals for that.

"There's a rude phrase that I'd shorten to 'just get on with it'."

The 315ft, Grade I listed Elizabeth Tower that holds the bell and clock face is undergoing what House of Commons officials claimed would be a £29million restoration.

But there are now fears the cost of the revamp on the crumbling Parliamentary estate has soared.

Reports earlier this year claimed the cost to taxpayers had doubled to £60million.

(Image: Rex Features) (Image: PA)

Now Commons officials have admitted they will make an "announcement" later this year revealing the final cost of the work - and are refusing to give a figure until then.

Tory MP James Gray, who sat on the administration committee which first approved the work, told the Daily Telegraph he regretted the committee's decision to give its backing and there was never any indication it would mean Big Ben being out of action for so long.

He said: "This is entirely bonkers. It is ridiculous to silence the bell for four years. I am very sceptical about the whole thing."

Labour MP Steve Pound said: "They kept the bells tolling through the Blitz. The Luftwaffe could not stop it but health and safety has. There has to be a way around this."

Labour shadow minister Barry Gardiner told the Daily Mail: "It seems to me not beyond the wit of man to make sure the programme of works could be arranged in a way that would allow it to chime more regularly. It seems to me draconian to think it will only chime eight times in four years."

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Tory MP Shailesh Vara complained: "Why should it take four years? Are they working three shifts in 24 hours or are they doing a 9 to 5?"

The tower's 13.7-tonne Great Bell - it, not the tower, is nicknamed Big Ben - has marked the hour on the note of E with "almost unbroken service" since 31 May 1859.

The bell was the largest ever cast in east London's Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which also cast the Liberty Bell and still runs today after nearly 500 years.

Ben Ben last fell silent for maintenance in 2007 and a major revamp between 1983 and 1985.

It also fell silent during the two world wars - but a Commons spokesman confirmed it is expected to be longest period without hourly chimes since they began in 1859.

(Image: Daily Herald)

The tower's famous clock faces will be mostly obscured by scaffolding as soon as October this year.

Parliamentary officials have assured the public one of its four faces will always be visible - but the other three will be covered.

The mechanism of the clock itself will also stop for "several months" as part of the project. Until now, Parliamentary officials had only confirmed this period would see chimes stop - but now they will stop for four years.

The project is not part of a wider revamp of the Palace of Westminster which could cost £4billion or more and is due to start in the 2020s.