LABOUR Peer George Foulkes has called for the UK Houses of Parliament to be turned into luxury flats.
Writing in The House Magazine, the former MP and MSP says that instead of spending billions on repairing the crumbling Palace of Westminster, MPs and Lords should move to a new purpose-built chamber near Alexandra Palace in North London. Westminster, he writes, could still be used, becoming a centre of parliamentary democracy with “re-enactments of key moments in the history of parliament”.
Foulkes adds “some of the accommodation in the palace could become very high-level residential”. He says: “Traditionalists may be shocked by such a radical set of proposals but they should ask themselves if the present plan really does provide future generations with a safe and efficient option and if it is value for money.”
Back in February, MPs voted 236 to 220 to leave the Palace of Westminster in 2025 for six years to allow a multi-billion-pound refurbishment of the historic building to take place.
Accountants Deloitte have predicted that the cost of repairs with a full decant would cost between £3.5bn and £3.9bn, while a partial decant would cost between £3.9bn and £4.4bn and a rolling programme of patch and go repairs, with Commons and Lords chambers being “vacated and then re-occupied” would cost up to £5.67bn.
The SNP’s Pete Wishart previously said the Commons should be left to become “a tourist attraction”.
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