Holocaust memorial to be built alongside Parliament amid terrorism risk warning
A Holocaust memorial will be built alongside Parliament despite a terrorism risk, the Government has confirmed.
Labour has committed to support the construction of a national Holocaust memorial “right at the heart of democracy” in Victoria Tower Gardens, beside the Houses of Parliament.
The Government’s new Holocaust Memorial Bill, announced in the King’s Speech, authorises the expenditure on the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.
The commitment was made despite warnings made earlier this year by Lord Carlile, a former government adviser on terrorism, that the memorial site would pose a “very real terrorism risk”.
He said that this was because there was a “real and present” prospect of the site being regarded as an iconic target by Islamist and Right-wing extremists.
Lord Carlile, whose close family were Holocaust victims, warned that the entire park may have to be treated as a “high-level security risk”, which could mean visitors are subjected to electronic and personal body searches.
‘Inspiration to the whole country’
Anti-Semitic incidents have increased by more than 1,000 per cent following the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct 7, compared with the previous year, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The Government said: “This memorial will rightly sit at the heart of our democracy, next to Parliament, and will act as an inspiration to the whole country for generations to come.”
A pledge to build the memorial was first made in January 2015, but planning permission was only granted in July 2021 due to difficulties over a law protecting the parkland.
The choice of location has provoked controversy since it was chosen because critics have claimed that it is too small for the size of the proposed memorial, and is a popular site in its own right.
But the Government has promised that the Victoria Tower Gardens will remain open to the public “with only a small area taken for the Holocaust memorial”.
The Learning Centre will mainly be located underground, and along with the memorial it will take up approximately 7.5 per cent, according to the Government.
The new Bill will authorise expenditure on the construction, maintenance and operation of the memorial and learning centre and remove the legal obstacle that prevented the project from going ahead.
The previous Conservative government had also pledged to do this in the King’s Speech in November.