If you turn up to work on a construction site, in a local care home, or driving a delivery van with alcohol on your breath, you face immediate dismissal for gross misconduct. Across almost every industry in the UK, strict sobriety is a non-negotiable minimum standard to ensure public safety, operational competence, and basic workplace decorum.

Yet, the people we elect to run our country believe they are above the rules.

Inside the Palace of Westminster, Members of Parliament and Peers have exclusive access to a network of internal bars and dining rooms where they can drink alcohol throughout the working day—and right between votes on massive, life-altering national legislation.

To make matters worse, this isn't just happening on their own dime:

     * The Taxpayer Footing the Bill: These catering operations and bars run at an enormous loss, with millions of pounds of hard-earned taxpayer money used every single year to underwrite and prop up a private workplace drinking club for politicians earning over £98,000 a year.

     * Subsidised Indulgence: While ordinary working families are being absolutely fleeced on the high street—struggling to get change from an eight-pound note for a single pint in an everyday local pub—politicians enjoy cut-price drinks protected from the inflation hitting the rest of us.

We are demanding an immediate, comprehensive modernisation of parliamentary workplace rules to bring politicians into line with the British public:

     * An Immediate Sobriety Mandate: Introduce strict rules prohibiting MPs and Peers from consuming alcohol during parliamentary sitting hours and prior to casting legislative votes.

     * Close the Bars: Permanently shut down all dedicated drinking establishments within the parliamentary estate, including Strangers' Bar.

     * A Total End to Subsidies: Strip away all taxpayer funding from Westminster catering services. If politicians choose to eat or drink on the estate, they must pay full, unrestricted market rates out of their own pockets.

If we expect sobriety and fiscal responsibility from our nurses, bus drivers, teachers, and tradespeople, we must demand it from the people who write the laws of the land. It is time to call last orders on the Westminster double standard.