Boris Johnson under pressure to give MPs vote on letting Big Ben bong on Brexit night after generous Brits donate £258k
BORIS Johnson was under mounting pressure to give MPs a vote on whether to let Big Ben bong on Brexit night.
Campaigners are furious that he appears to have abandoned the idea after asking the nation to dig deep to pay for the bell to sound.
Generous Brits have donated £258,000 towards the cost of marking the historic event.
But some MPs accused the PM of giving in to Remainers hellbent on wrecking celebrations when we leave the EU at 11pm on January 31.
Commons chiefs claimed it would cost £500,000 to allow Big Ben — undergoing repairs — to bong.
That is 35 times more than the bill for its use on New Year’s Eve.
When the fund-raising started, they moved the goalposts saying they could not accept cash raised.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “The idea of ringing Big Ben came from the Prime Minister himself. He asked people to raise money for it.”
Tory MP Mark Francois, who ran crowd-funding, lead calls for a Commons vote to decide.
Number 10 insisted that Brexit would be marked by a laser show in Downing Street.
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