House of Commons cafeteria to serve kosher food after MPs’ appeal

Peckish Jewish MPs after a kosher sandwich or a hot meal will soon get to grab a bite in Parliament.

The Bellamy’s restaurant in the House of Commons will offer kosher and halal food from 30 March in a three-month trial, MPs revealed on Thursday.

The announcement follows a joint letter demanding kosher and halal options by the MPs Charlotte Nichols and Zarah Sultana backed by 49 cross-party MPs.

Signatories include Alex Sobel, Wes Streeting, Rosena Allin-Khan, Naz Shah, Caroline Lucas, the shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, the shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell.

Nichols, the Jewish MP for Warrington North, said offering kosher and halal food is about “making Parliament more accessible to people of all faiths and none.”

“We’ve had Jewish MPs now for about 200 years. I’m certainly by no means the first. Likewise we’ve Muslim MPs for decades. It’s something that is long overdue and there are people that have been pushing for this for a long time,” Nichols told Jewish News on Thursday.

The MP, who has been ordering vegetarian food, said some Jewish members of staff are having to bring in kosher lunches every day.

“It’s not just about the people that are currently here. It’s about the people that might be here in the future. Now that people know that actually if the trial is successful they can get kosher food on the estate, you might have more people who are an observant Jewish people wanting to come and work here,” she said.

Sultana, who was elected to Parliament in December, said she was “really pleased” the trial will go ahead.

“In 2020, Parliament must be accessible to Muslim & Jewish MPs, Lords, staff & visitors,” she wrote on Twitter.