Commons Speaker bids to calm fears that parliament is sinking

Commons Speaker John Bercow has brushed off fears Parliament could sink into the River Thames.

Conservative Robert Halfon, quoting weekend news reports that the mock-Gothic building had been undermined by Tube tunnelling and work on Westminster’s underground car park, asked if MPs needed to take emergency action.

The MP asked Bercow for a statement, “just in case we know whether or not to buy our life jackets”.