WESTMINSTER Palace is one of the most beautiful, crazy, magical buildings. Full of history, drama and ghosts. I’ve loved it more than any other building since I was a child.

Walking in as an MP for the first time affected me so much that I hyperventilated... But — and it's a big but — it is also a completely impractical building, in a bad state of repair, and totally unsuitable as a workplace.

We have damp, leaks and dangerous electrics in our office that constantly trip, plunging us, as well as John McDonnell and Robert Jenrick — who us Cornish MPs share a corridor with — into total darkness. The windows don’t shut and we have mice and rats. The gents’ toilet pretty much exploded. While in the ladies’, the lights randomly stop working, plunging us into sudden, inconvenient darkness. There’s always a cherrypicker inside Westminster Hall patching holes because it’s in such a perilous state.

Despite all of this it remains one the most recognised buildings in the world. The Palace of Westminster contains Big Ben, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, and owes its amazing Gothic architecture to the 19th-century architect Sir Charles Barry, who rebuilt the palace after it was all but destroyed in the mid-1800s by fire. Today the palace covers eight acres, contains around 1,100 rooms, and 4.8km of passageways

It's now Grade I listed, and part of an UNESCO World Heritage Site. And to be honest, it's amazing that it's still standing. During the Second World War both Houses of Parliament would sometimes sit in Church House in Westminster Abbey. What would turn out to be a wise move. The Palace was hit and damaged by air raids on fourteen different occasions during the war. The worst when incendiary bombs set the roof of Westminster Hall on fire and the Commons Chamber was entirely destroyed, on May 11, 1941. Unbelievably, the final day of the Blitz.

Last week, after asking a question about the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and crew, which Falmouth hosts, during Defence Questions, and then sitting for the debate on the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (which repeals the Rwanda legislation and introduces new measures to give law enforcement agencies the tools to smash criminal smuggling gangs risking others' lives on small boat crossings) I had a briefing on the restoration of the Palace.

As it turns out, there are really only two choices. Let the place fall even more into disrepair. Or make it safe and habitable. The last option will of course be incredibly complicated, cost a great deal and mean moving out, at least in part. It's a iconic building that has stood the test of time.

We hold this place in our hands for our children and their children. It’s not ours: we’re looking after it. It’s up to us to make the choice to make it good to last for future generations, if we’re not to be the last to use it.

Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth