Petition · past parliament

Remove all subsidies on MP's food and drink

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Take away all subsidised food and drink for MPs. This comes in the wake of the decision not to support free school meals during the Christmas 2020 school holidays. We the signatories will not stand for tax payers money being used to subsidise MPs while children are left to go hungry.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

We have published the following petition, which you might like to sign:

Increase food and drink prices for MPs in House of Commons catering venues: Increase food and drink prices for MPs in House of Commons catering venues

Catering services for the House of Commons are provided by an in-house team who do not provide a subsidised service, though the cost of running the service means that it runs at a loss. It is important to note that while in some venues the cost of providing the service exceeds the income received in sales, other venues in the Commons make a profit which contributes to reducing overall costs. The House of Commons publishes details of the cost of House of Commons catering services: https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/foi/transparency-publications/hoc-transparency-publications/catering-services/transparency-reporting-catering-services/

Customers of the House of Commons Catering Services include some of the 650 MPs but also around 14,500 other pass-holders, many of whom are staff on lower wages that work irregular hours. In addition, members of the public and non pass holding visitors to Parliament also have access to these services. The irregular hours and the unpredictability of Parliamentary business contribute to increasing the net cost of providing a catering service. To offset this many of the restaurants, dining room facilities and their staff, are used to cater for private events at times when they are not required by the House. This is one of a number of measures used to reduce
costs.

Timeline

22 Oct 2020 Petition opened for signatures
30 Oct 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 30 Oct 2020

Follow this petition

Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.

Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.