Petition
Ban alcohol consumption from Parliament during working hours.
Rejected
21 signatures
What the petition asks
Remove subsidised alcohol from Parliament and ban the consumption of alcohol during working hours for members of Parliament.
MPs cannot be allowed to consume alcohol whilst working. MPs are elected representatives of the public and are obligated to perform in the public's best interests, they cannot do so whilst inebriated. Drinking alcohol whilst working isn't acceptable in any line of work. It is embarrassing to hear the reports of MPs voting whilst drunk and brings government integrity into question. Parliament is the centre of the UK government, not a social club, and MPs should remember that they work for us.
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for similar action:
Ban the sale and consumption of alcohol in House of Commons venues
Ban the sale and consumption of alcohol in House of Commons venues
Catering services for the House of Commons are provided by an in-house team who do not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word. Some venues make a profit, referred to as contribution because it contributes to reducing overall costs. In other venues, the cost of providing the service does exceed the income received in sales due to the irregular hours and unpredictability of parliamentary business. The contribution or cost of each venue is calculated by subtracting the food and operational costs from the catering sales. Rather than a subsidy, the House monitors the contribution or cost of each catering venue, which include cafeterias, dining rooms, restaurants and bars. Prices of food and drink are regularly benchmarked against appropriate external comparators.
You can read more about this here: https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/freedom-of-information/information-we-already-publish/house-of-commons-publication-scheme/catering-services/house-of-commons-cost-of-catering/
We can't accept petitions about catering in the House of Lords as that is the responsibility of the House of Lords.
Ban the sale and consumption of alcohol in House of Commons venues
Ban the sale and consumption of alcohol in House of Commons venues
Catering services for the House of Commons are provided by an in-house team who do not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word. Some venues make a profit, referred to as contribution because it contributes to reducing overall costs. In other venues, the cost of providing the service does exceed the income received in sales due to the irregular hours and unpredictability of parliamentary business. The contribution or cost of each venue is calculated by subtracting the food and operational costs from the catering sales. Rather than a subsidy, the House monitors the contribution or cost of each catering venue, which include cafeterias, dining rooms, restaurants and bars. Prices of food and drink are regularly benchmarked against appropriate external comparators.
You can read more about this here: https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/freedom-of-information/information-we-already-publish/house-of-commons-publication-scheme/catering-services/house-of-commons-cost-of-catering/
We can't accept petitions about catering in the House of Lords as that is the responsibility of the House of Lords.
Timeline
| 20 May 2026 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 26 May 2026 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
21
Status
Rejected
Rejected
26 May 2026
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 27 Jul 2026.