MPs served Christmas rabbit and brandy butter pudding in year they rejected free school meals

A campaigner has called for an end to 'heavily subsidised' fine dining at Westminster.

Christmas menus in Parliament include four-course meals with chargrilled sirloin steaks, braised rabbit and puddings laced with brandy sauce and rum butter.

The festive dining arrangements come in a year when Marcus Rashford’s call to extend free school meals was voted down in the House of Commons.

Preparations for seasonal dining, also comprising roast turkey supreme and gin and tonic cured salmon, began in the weeks before a majority opposed the plan.

A separate campaign has attracted more than 1.2 million signatures to an online petition calling for an end to public money supporting MPs’ meals.

Catering in the restaurants and bars is not directly subsidised but runs at a loss, meaning taxpayers’ money effectively supports the overall operation.

Many of the carefully-sourced Christmas dishes are priced for under £4.

The menus were available earlier this month despite continued disruption to the parliamentary estate caused by the pandemic. All of its catering venues have since closed, with Westminster entering recess on December 17 and London in tier four restrictions.

Petition founder Portia Lawrie said: ‘These are heavily-subsidised menus.

‘You can’t even get a Big Mac meal for that kind of money. The Government disingenuously denies this food is subsidised but rather that catering is run at a loss. This is pure semantics. The bill for that “loss” is footed by the public purse. They are “losing” public money. 

‘We are using public funds to feed people who aren’t hungry whilst denying public funds to those that are. It really is as simple as that.

‘No public servant should be being fed from the public purse, until the public they serve no longer want for food themselves.’ 

Seasonal menus produced by Parliament’s catering service show that the December fare includes roast breast of Hertfordshire turkey with sage, onion, chestnut and sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey gravy and pigs in blankets. The Terrace Cafeteria’s main course costs £4.16.

Another centrepiece is the vegan balsamic glazed shallot and red onion tart tatin, topped with Brussels sprouts, carrot, red cabbage ‘slaw and toasted pine kernels. Desserts include Christmas pudding with brandy sauce and double cream or custard for 98p.

At Bellamy’s restaurant, dishes include smoked haddock kedgeree tart topped with poached egg, curry sauce, apricot relish and toasted almonds.

However the venerable Members’ Dining Room, which is adorned with wooden reliefs and is usually reserved for Lords and MPs, has the most elaborate yuletide menus.

Starters include a vegan, gluten-free salt baked celeriac mousse with parsnip crumb, leek oil, golden raisins and beetroot wafer. Braised rabbit is another first course, served with apricot terrine with prunes and brandy, celery ribbons and hazelnut salad.

Fish-eaters can plump for gin and tonic cured salmon with beetroot remoulade, mizuna Japanese vegetable leaves and pomegranate. Mains include the roast turkey supreme with sausage, chestnut and turkey leg ballotine, roast carrots and potatoes, parsnips and sprouts.

Chefs have also readied baked trout with spinach, saffron potatoes, citrus and chive butter sauce and pan-seared sea bass with mulled onions, artichoke, cocotte potatoes and curly kale.

King of the price list for all the catering outlets is the gluten-free, chargrilled sirloin steak with thick-cut chips, tomato, mushroom and Béarnaise sauce for £11.77. Vegans are well catered for, with the roasted squash and cranberry seitan with paprika aubergine, roast carrots and parsnips, glazed sprouts and roast potatoes.

Afters include Christmas pudding with brandy sauce and rum butter and a vegan, gluten-free raspberry Pavlova with vanilla cream and raspberry granité, both of which cost £2.37.

Completing the four courses is a cheese selection with Cropwell Bishop, Tunworth Camembert and Black Bomber varieties costing £3.63.

Chefs made 1,250 individual portions of the Christmas puddings alone, according to information previously released by the Commons under the Freedom of Information Act.

At the time the desserts were being prepared, Boris Johnson was refusing to extend free school meals for children across England during school holidays, with MPs subsequently voting against the move in October. He later made a U-turn on his stance and thanked Mr Rashford for his work.

The Commons catering operation serves around 14,500 Parliamentary pass-holders, including MPs, staff, and journalists, as well as thousands of visitors every year. Key workers are also provided access to food allowing the centre of Government to fulfil its constitutional duties.

All outlets are currently closed and access to the estate is restricted.

A House of Commons spokesperson said: ‘Our food and drink offering is regularly benchmarked against similar outlets outside Parliament and these services are accessible to all pass-holders, including staff, Members and journalists.

‘Although some Christmas food has been made available at House of Commons catering venues in December, the volumes have been low and in line with demand.’

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