Following MPs renewing calls for a cat after another mouse infestation in the Houses of Parliament, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has again offered its solution.

The animal charity has been trying to get Parliament to adopt a rescue cat since 2014 and suggests rehoming one could save thousands of pounds of public money spent on pest control.

The charity first approached Parliament three years ago when it emerged it spent a whopping £73,552 on pest control during the 2012/13 financial year.

The figure has since nearly doubled to £130,000.

Battersea's head of catteries Lindsey Quinlan said: “Battersea has been hearing persistent reports of mice scuttling around the Houses of Parliament for several years now, and the latest figures released clearly demonstrate that tax payers are funding a rising cost for pest control in our Government buildings.

“Battersea has over 130 years in rehoming rescue cats, and was the first choice for Downing Street, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and the Cabinet Office when they sought our mousers to help with their own rogue rodents.

“We'd be more than happy to help the Houses of Parliament recruit their own chief mousers to eliminate their pest problem and restore order in the historic corridors of power.”

Some cats that are looking for a new home:

Wandsworth Times: Jasper is a loveable five-year-old black and white Domestic Short-hair who has been at Battersea for 93 days

Wandsworth Times: Sheeba is a four-year-old big-eyed British Short-hair

Wandsworth Times: Six-year-old Suki is an intelligent snow spotted Bengal looking for a large home 

A Parliamentary spokesperson said: “We’d like to thank Battersea Dogs and Cats Home for their kind offer, and pay tribute to the fantastic work that they do in rehoming cats.

“However the Palace of Westminster would not be a safe or suitable environment to place an adopted cat.

“The Palace of Westminster is a public building in a way Downing Street and the Government Departments are not and the Palace sees many thousands of visitors each year.

“There are also large scale ongoing building works taking place in and around Parliament, and with the resulting increase in traffic, the Estate would not be an appropriate environment for cats to roam in pursuit of rogue rodents, that is why assistance dogs and security dogs accompanied by their handlers are the only animals allowed in the Palace.”

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