MPs are set to review the ‘bonkers’ Big Ben plan after claiming they didn’t know the famous bell would be silenced for four years.

Three Parliamentary committees are said to have agreed on the work before it was given final approval by the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Speaker John Bercow.

But last night MPs insisted they had no idea they were signing off on a plan that would silence the Great Bell’s bongs for four years because of health and safety concerns.

They expressed anger at the length of time allocated to refurbish the Elizabeth Tower, which will silence the bells to protect workers from hearing damage, with Tory MP Nicholas Soames saying: ‘Tell those poor little darlings to put headphones on.’

Brexit Secretary David Davis also waded into the row, saying that stopping the chimes was ‘mad’ and urging the Parliamentary estate’s authorities to ‘just get on with it’.

In the face of the growing revolt, Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, the spokesman for the Commons Commission, said he would ask for the plans to be reviewed. 

‘Following representations that have been made, I will ask the commission whether it will look again at whether more extended bell-ringing is an option that is both mechanically and financially viable.

‘Clearly there is a means of doing it (having the bells ring more often) because there is a commitment to ensuring the bells ring on New Year’s Eve. Mr Brake insisted that while the refurbishment plans had been brought before the commission, the specifics – such as Big Ben being silenced for four years – had not been discussed or signed off.

The plans to silence Big Ben, which has rung out reassuringly for more than 150 years, even during times of war, sparked an outcry when they were revealed on Monday. The £29 million, four-year facelift will repair cracked masonry in the Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben, while the clock mechanism will also be serviced. 

The bells will sound only on occasions such as New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Day.

The Parliamentary authorities said it would be ‘unacceptable’ to expose workers on scaffolding surrounding the tower to the noise of the chimes – and also ‘unacceptable’ for them to wear ear defenders. 

EU health and safety rules dictate that ear defenders can be used only as a last resort in the workplace.

But Mr Davis dismissed the health and safety concerns, telling LBC Radio: ‘I think it’s mad.

‘There’s a sort of rude phrase which I will shorten to “just get on with it”. When I was in business, it was my standard line – “just get on, just do it, don’t faff”.’

Mr Soames, the grandson of war-time prime minister Winston Churchill, added: ‘It is a tremendously defeatist decision in an age where the technology exists to recreate the sound of Big Ben completely authentically and on time.