BY KEIRON MCCABE

Ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron joked: “Usually the public thinks parliament is stuffed with pests, but this time it is actually true”

Officials are working ‘urgently’ to get rid of a bedbug infestation in parliament

Pest-busters are taking urgent action to wipe out a bedbug infestation in Parliament.

The blood-sucking parasitic insects were discovered this week in the Palace of Westminster and 7 Millbank, both home to MPs’ offices.

Pest-busters are taking urgent action to wipe out a bedbug infestation in Parliament.

The blood-sucking parasitic insects were discovered this week in the Palace of Westminster and 7 Millbank, both home to MPs’ offices.

A warning on Parliament’s intranet page this week said “urgent action” is being taken to stop the infestation, which “did not originate” at Parliament and must have been “brought in from the outside”.

Monitoring is underway to check if the bugs – which are notoriously difficult to remove – have spread to other areas.

Ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron joked: “Usually the public thinks parliament is stuffed with pests, but this time it is actually true”.

MPs have now left Parliament for their summer recess and will not return to until September giving exterminators a chance to remove the bugs.

But the Palace of Westminster remains in urgent need of a decision on whether its multi-billion pound restoration will go ahead.

MPs, peers and staff could have to clear out for six years while builders restore the Grade I listed 19th Century palace, described as a fire hazard.

Mr Farron added: “I think this shows how we need to renovate the palace – otherwise we will face yet more of this in the years ahead”.