I will be in London when parliament reopens in Sept. and am interested in attending a debate in the House of Commons.
From what I have read, I need to go to the Cromwell Green visitors entrance on the day of my visit.
Debates start at 11:30 am. When do I need to get there?
Is it free?
Is it worth attending?
I will not be there at the right time to do a guided tour, unfortunately.
It is free, and yes I think it is worthwhile to devote a few hours to this plan. There are lines for security and to enter the debate chambers. I would try to be there by 10:00 for a better place in line.
Yes, worth attending and waiting in a queue to enjoy.
Last week in London we were politely but firmly told by the security people at the visitors entrance to Parliament that, the only way we could get into the building was on the Saturday guided tour.
This surprised us because it's directly counter to what Rick says in his London 2014 book!
It's not as if we were being singled out--there was absolutely no line of tourists at that or any other entrances.
Wondering if anyone knows more about this? Has there been a recent change in policy by the UK authorities, since Rick's book went to press?
Thanks, Kent. That is unexpected. The Parliament site still says that overseas visitors are welcome. I will forward the issue to some more staff.
Thank you, Laura, for having the Rick Steves' Europe staff look into this.
Think the House is in recess at the moment - wef from 14th May. So galleries wouldn't have been open.
What was confusing is that we had Rick's London 2014 with us, and had just read at page 55: "If you see a light above Big Ben's clock and a flag atop the Victoria Tower, then Parliament is in session."
Well, the flag was flying atop Victoria Tower. We were actually too close to Big Ben to see if that light was on. Anyway, we actually (politely) pointed out to the security personnel at the visitor's entrance that the flag was flying and we thought this meant Parliament was in session and we could visit.
But they weren't impressed with that argument, there were no other tourists queing up, and we weren't going to argue with folks with bulges under their vests.
Oh well....it was 16:45 and our Plan B was walking across the street to attend Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Not a bad Plan B!
But we're still kinda confused about visiting Parliament.
When House is in recess I believe the only way you could get in would be on a tour.
Our researcher confirms that she got the same "no-go" message that Kent did on her first, afternoon visit to talk to guards this April, and it may have been the same guards. When she went back and took the Saturday guided tour, she talked to many more staff who confirmed that visiting debates is allowed, as long as you go straight in and do not dawdle in the halls. Maybe no line outside is a sign of no debate running inside. We welcome updates from anyone who runs into this issue in the future.
