This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

MPs have opposed the award of a multimillion-pound contract to refurbish Big Ben to a huge construction firm which was at the heart of an unlawful conspiracy to blacklist thousands of workers.



Sir Robert McAlpine is in line to win the £29m deal to restore the Elizabeth Tower, which houses the clock. The company was given a £3m contract last year to carry out initial work.

In a parliamentary debate on Tuesday on blacklisting, MPs criticised the award of the contract to the firm. Labour MP Chuka Umunna asked: “Why on earth are we giving them this contract given their disgraceful role in blacklisting?

“Tears were apparently shed last month over the fact that we will not hear Big Ben’s bongs for several years. Now we should be far more concerned by the fact that Sir Robert McAlpine appears to have bagged this work to be carried out on Big Ben’s tower to fix these bongs.”

MPs including the prime minister, Theresa May, said last month that it could not be right that the repair work meant that the historic bell was to be silenced until 2021.

Labour MP Jack Dromey said it was a “scandal” that the contract was to be given to Sir Robert McAlpine, adding: “There should be consequences for blacklisting.”



The SNP MP Chris Stephens called for the contract to be stripped from the firm, saying it was “an absolute disgrace and scandal that they were awarded it in the first place”. It signalled “bad faith” that one of the main perpetrators had been “given access to public money to boost their profits”, he added.

MPs outlined the key role played by the company in the conspiracy and called for a public inquiry to establish how large firms had for years covertly blacklisted workers.

Some MPs also alleged that firms were still engaged in blacklisting workers, with Umunna claiming that he had seen emails detailing “questionable practices” at the huge Crossrail project.

McAlpine and other construction firms were forced to apologise and pay compensation totalling about £75m to 771 blacklisted workers last year after a lawsuit.



They had admitted they had secretly compiled files on thousands of workers recording details of their political and trade union activities. The firms had denied jobs to workers they deemed to be troublemakers.



The workers, some of whom had raised health and safety concerns on construction sites, were not told about the secret vetting and were unable to challenge it. Many experienced long periods out of work.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chuka Umunna. Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA

McAlpine was the one of the biggest users of the database, paying to run checks on thousands of workers.



Callum McAlpine, a director of the firm, admitted during a parliamentary inquiry that he and another executive of the firm had been the chairmen of the clandestine body, known as the Consulting Association.



He also admitted that the firm had contributed £20,000 to help set up the association.



Ian Kerr, who maintained the blacklist, was fined £5,000 in 2009 after a watchdog shut down the covert operation. He has alleged that Sir Robert McAlpine paid the fine to shield from publicity the firms that financed the blacklisting.

Dave Smith, a spokesman for the blacklisted workers, said: “In all the media furore about the silencing of the bells, Big Ben was described as a symbol of British democratic values. Yet the company carrying out the works were intimately involved in systematic human rights violations against British citizens.”

During the debate, Umunna said he had seen evidence of “surveillance of workers that took place at a peaceful demonstration at a Crossrail site in 2016”. He also said he had seen paperwork that had been circulated between contractors and the Crossrail employee relations department “which details questionable surveillance practices”.

“Two of the workers concerned who were subject to that surveillance have since sought to obtain further employment on Crossrail,” he claimed.

Umunna added that both workers, who had the required skills, were turned down. “As soon as they relayed their name, there was a delay and they were subsequently given an excuse as to why the positions had been filled.”

He alleged that one of the subcontractors had claimed the consequences of employing a trade unionist would be the “refusal of future work”.

Crossrail denied it was involved in blacklisting.

Margot James, junior business minister, said she would examine the evidence presented to her by the MPs.

McAlpines declined to comment.