Holocaust Memorial plans to go back to Parliament

The government has committed to building a Holocaust memorial in the heart of Westminster, bringing in legislation to allow the plans to go ahead.

Proposals for a memorial and learning centre to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, just south of Parliament, were first made in 2015.

However, planning permission was later overturned in the High Court after campaigners argues it breached a 1900 law protecting the park from development.

The Holocaust Memorial Bill will scrap parts of this Act, removing legal obstacles.

It will also authorise expenditure on the construction, maintenance and operation of the memorial and an associated learning centre.

The reintroduction of the Bill would mean future generations "continue to learn lessons from the past" and "help to build a more unified, tolerant future", deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said.

She added: "The evil and brutality of the Holocaust is a stark reminder of what can happen when hatred and intolerance go unchallenged.

"We must make sure those who died are never forgotten."

The previous Conservative government had also promised to do this in the King's Speech in November but called the election before the Bill could be approved.

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephram Mirvis welcomed the new Government's commitment to the project, saying it sent "a timely message, not only about our national undertaking to remembering this dark period of our history but, more importantly, about the kind of future we want to create together".

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: "With the Holocaust fading further into history and survivors becoming fewer and frailer, the need for progress on building the memorial and learning centre next to Parliament has never been more urgent."

The reintroduced Bill will go through the Commons without debate, having been discussed in the last Parliament, and will then resume its normal passage in the Lords.

While the proposals have received cross-party support, they are not universally backed even among Holocaust survivors, some of whom believe the chosen site is too small, and dislike the design proposed for the memorial.

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