Gove admits there has been ‘controversy and opposition’ over Westminster Holocaust memorial

Secretary of State Michael Gove has admitted “there has been controversy and there has been opposition” to the proposed site of a Holocaust memorial and learning centre in Westminster, but added it was “only fair to say that the decision to site it in Victoria Tower Gardens has followed consultation.”

The Communities Secretary was speaking in support of the long-promised project in the House of Commons on Wednesday as the Holocaust Memorial Bill passed its second reading without the need for a vote.

But Wednesday’s debate did little to speed up the progress of a memorial, with some MPs suggesting that even if the current plan went ahead, it would be at least five years before it was built.

Introducing the bill Gove said:”This short bill serves a vital purpose. It ensures that the undertaking that this Government have given, supported by the official Opposition and all parties in this House, is honoured, and that a fitting, Government-led national memorial and learning centre to honour the six million who died in the holocaust is established in a suitable, prominent centre at the heart of our capital city. 

“I know that everyone in this House recognises that the holocaust was a unique evil. Genocide—the greatest crime that humanity can inflict on other human beings—has been a dark feature of our shared history since the dawn of time, but the holocaust stands out in scale and in horror. ”

Gove added:”Just a fortnight ago, Ben Helfgott, an ambassador for the Holocaust Educational Trust, sadly passed away. Ben was a holocaust survivor who went on to represent this country in weightlifting at the Olympics. 

“Thanks to the Holocaust Educational Trust, I had the privilege of meeting Ben and hearing his testimony.

“I do not think any of us who have heard the testimony of any of the witnesses and survivors for whom the Holocaust Educational Trust has provided a platform will forget that—there is nothing as powerful as hearing from those who lived through and survived the hell of the holocaust. As Ben and other survivors pass on, it is our duty and our responsibility to move as quickly as we can to ensure that the memorial they fought for and wished to see is established suitably.”

He was backed in his argument for the Westminster memorial by his opposite number of the Labour benches Lisa Nandy who said her party “strongly supports” the bill.

She said:”The Holocaust is undeniably the greatest crime of the last century, people were taken from their homes, stripped of their possessions and subjected to the horror of the concentration camps, forced labour camps and ghettos in many cases just because they were Jewish.

“The murder of the six million Jews and so many others by the Nazis must never be forgotten.”

Nandy called for the “swift progress” of the bill through parliament.

Amongst those to give impassioned accounts the personal impact that Holocaust had on their families was the Labour MP Jon Trickett.

The Conservative MP Bob Blackman also fought back tears as he spoke on the impact of Nazism on both sides of his family.

But the debate was notable for the objections raised, not to a memorial itself, but on the location of the £109 million project near to parliament, made by at least three Tory MPs.

Basildon MP John Baron told MPs: “I am fully supportive of a national holocaust memorial, but the reason I will not be supporting the Government in the passing of this Bill this evening—if it is passed—is that there appears to have been a complete lack of public consultation. 

“Westminster City Council was against it, and it seems to me as though this has been imposed from above by Government. That is not what we do in this country: we need a much wider consultation. That is why many prominent Jews, including Malcolm Rifkind, former rabbis and so forth, have signed the open letter arguing against the siting of the memorial in Victoria Tower gardens.”

Sir Peter Bottomley, a long-time critic of the Westminster project, also raised concern about what he claimed was the lack of public consultation over the project.

Another Conservative MP Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) told the Commons: “Critically, this debate is not about whether we should have a memorial. That is something I think we all agree on. Rather, this debate is about whether the right location is Victoria Tower Gardens.”

Aiken said the memorial “has caused concerns for many of my residents living in the surrounding area”, adding: “As the local MP for the proposed site, I stand to speak in support of the ‘Save Victoria Tower Gardens’ campaign.”

After the bill was passed, Karen Pollock chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust said:“This afternoon was an important step forward in the establishment of a permanent memorial to the Holocaust in the heart of British public life. Parliamentarians voted overwhelmingly to support the Holocaust Memorial Bill, paving the way for the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster, in the shadow of Parliament.

“Listening to the debate we are reminded that this Memorial is not about planning permission, square footage or underground pipes – it is about the 6 million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered during the Holocaust; the children of today for whom the atrocities of the Holocaust will not be in living memory; the politicians of tomorrow who will forever be reminded of what happens when the values of democracy and freedom are undermined; the children, and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who thanks to this memorial will always have a place to go and light a candle and a place to remember.”