Petition

Close all bars and ban the consumption of alcohol on the Parliamentary estate.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

We call upon the House of Commons Commission and the UK Government to immediately close all commercial bars, restaurants, and catering outlets serving alcohol within the Palace of Westminster, and to implement a strict ban on the consumption of alcohol by Members of Parliament (MPs).
MPs' Code of Conduct be amended to make attending parliamentary debates, committee meetings, or entering the voting lobbies under the influence of alcohol a serious disciplinary offence.Additional InformationIn almost every standard UK workplace—including schools, hospitals, construction sites, and emergency services—drinking alcohol while on duty is a gross misconduct offence resulting in immediate dismissal. Members of Parliament are elected to vote on laws, national security, and public.

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.

Timeline

21 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.