Plymouth named as a possible Lords home

PLYMOUTH has emerged as an unlikely potential temporary home for the House of Lords as the Government bids to “level up” the country, according to minister Michael Gove.

The Levelling Up Secretary is said to have scotched plans to relocate the Lords to another London building during its forthcoming refurbishment.

The minister has reportedly written to Lord McFall of Alcluith, speaker in the upper house, to say he won’t allow peers to use

Queen Elizabeth II Centre, near the houses of parliament.

He has urged the Lords to look at Stoke-on-Trent, but if that is found to be unsuitable he has suggested other locations including “Burnley, Edinburgh, Sunderland, Plymouth, Wolverhampton or York”.

Plymouth doesn’t have an airport and it takes more than three hours to reach by train from London.

Mr Gove is reported to have written that cities across the country would be “pleased to extend their hospitality to peers”.

But the proposal has been described as “bonkeroony” by former Lords speaker Baroness Hayman.

In the letter, reported in the Sunday Times, Mr Gove is quoted as saying that having “carefully reviewed the proposed arrangements”, he “will not support the use of the QEII

Centre as an alternative location”.

The conference and exhibition space is just a few minutes’ walk from the Palace of Westminster, in London.

Earlier this year, a report showed that restoring the Palace of Westminster without finding a new home for MPs could take up to 76 years, with a repairs bill reaching £22 billion.

The project’s sponsor body and delivery authority said the cheapest option would involve a “full decant” of the palace for between 12 and 20 years, with the work costing about £7 billion.