Pete Wishart has told Tory and Labour MPs to “get a grip” as he lamented their “frankly bizarre obsession” with the Big Ben bongs.
The SNP’s Perthshire MP said there are far more pressing issues to focus on than the four-year hiatus of the Great Bell chiming.
MPs and parliamentary workers gathered at noon on Monday to listen to the final round of bongs before they are stopped to allow renovation works.
There has been outcry from some quarters that they will fall silent for so long.
Labour’s Stephen Pound said it was a “desperately sad” moment and said the decision showed a “real poverty of imagination”.
Parliamentary officials have insisted workers’ hearing would be put at “serious risk” if the bell continued chiming.
Mr Wishart, who is the shadow leader of the House of Commons, said: “The huge fuss consuming Westminster over Big Ben’s bongs is frankly bizarre, and Tory and Labour MPs obsessing over it really need to get a grip.
“After seven years of failed Tory government there are much bigger issues to get worked up about, like the damaging Tory austerity cuts that are hitting millions of families across the country.”
Last week a trio of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs called for Big Ben to bong Britain out of the EU on Brexit day, which is expected on March 29, 2019.
