'Scandalous' decision to use Big Ben repair firm who blacklist employees

MPs and a union have blasted the decision to award the contract to refurbish Big Ben to an employer linked to an historic blacklisting scandal – Mirror reports.

MP Chuka Ummuna and GMB Union slammed the decision to give the contract to construction giant Sir Robert McAlpine who were amongst the firms that had to pay out tens of millions of pounds to ‘blacklisted workers.’

McAlpine were implicated in a case that involved companies using a database of employees who were trade union or health and safety reps, to keep them out of employment.

Ummuna believes the news should raise the public’s concern. He said: “Tears were apparently shed last month over the fact that we will not hear Big Ben’s bongs for several years. We should be far more concerned about the fact that Sir Robert McAlpine, a firm implicated in all of this, appears to have bagged a multi-million-pound contract for the work that is to be carried out on Big Ben tower to fix those bongs."