Lords told to look at move to Edinburgh

MICHAEL GOVE has urged the House of Lords to consider a move to Edinburgh while the Palace of Westminster is being refurbished.

The Minister For Levelling Up has blocked peers’ plans to move to the nearby Queen Elizabeth II Centre during the billion-pound renovation of Parliament.

According to a letter leaked to The Sunday Times, he instead said the Lords should look at locations outside London, including “Edinburgh, Sunderland, Plymouth, Wolverhampton or York”.

There was a mixed response to the idea of the upper chamber settling in the capital.

Miles Briggs, Tory MSP for the Lothians, suggested the peers could use the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, where the Scottish Parliament was initially based before the opening of the purpose-built estate at the bottom of the Royal Mile.

He told The Herald: “There has been a number of occasions when both Westminster committees and the Scottish Parliament have met in other locations around the UK and while the refurbishment of Westminster takes place, I think it presents an opportunity for Members of Parliament to sit in other parts of the country, and engage and understand the needs of all parts of the country.”

However, Edinburgh North and Leith MP Deidre Brock was less enthusiastic: “No amount of tinkering around the edges will take away from the fact that the House of Lords is completely undemocratic.”

Last month, a report by the House of Commons Commission noted that if both Houses of Parliament were not fully vacated, the restoration could take up to 76 years at a cost of £22 billion.

It said the cheapest plan involved a full clear-out of MPS and Lords for between 12 and 20 years. That would cost somewhere between £7bn to £13bn.