Tory MP 'found someone sleeping in his Commons office'

Thefts: the Palace of Westminster
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Robin de Peyer20 December 2017
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A Conservative MP says he found someone sleeping under his desk in his House of Commons office.

Robert Halfon said his staff had experienced “constant thefts of valuable things” from the room in the Palace of Westminster.

Mr Halfon, raising a point of order on the issue, told the Commons he had alerted the authorities about the thefts but said "very little has been done".

He said: "Since 2010 my staff have worked in the lower basement, otherwise known as the dungeons, of the House of Commons and since 2010, on a number of occasions, they have had valuables stolen, computers stolen and I've had my own valuables stolen when they have been kept there.

"I have raised this with the authorities on a number of times but very little has been done, and there has been a recent theft where valuables were stolen not just from my staff but other staff as well, and those staff have approached me.

"They have also come in in the morning and found somebody sleeping under a desk, they have come in and seen clothes just thrown in the middle of the floor."

Mr Halfon, MP for Harlow, said parliamentary authorities suggested the way to deal with the problem was for staff to move into the offices of the MPs.

"I urge you Mr Speaker: this is unacceptable that my staff's privacy should be invaded in this way, that there should be constant thefts of valuable things, even when they are locked in drawers because we keep getting told to lock stuff in the drawers but it is locked in the drawers.

"And actually for once something be done about it and there's proper security and that my staff are protected and the other staff who work in the basement."

Commons Speaker John Bercow asked Mr Halfon to provide a "fuller picture" if possible.

He said: "I note that a number of the matters have been reported to the police, and I say this in no contentious spirit but on the basis of advice that I received during his point of order, that I think in respect at least of some of the matters of which it is said we did not have knowledge we do need a proper and comprehensive report.

"Certainly reference to ... strangers sleeping in offices, no further elaboration is required, is news to me - I had not known of that and my understanding is that the authorities had not known of that."

A House of Commons spokesman said: “We take the safety and security of everyone on the Parliamentary Estate extremely seriously, and will be looking into the concerns raised by Mr Halfon as a matter of urgency.

"Any allegations of crime on the estate should be reported to the police.”

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