Michael Gove, the former chief whip, has joined a growing rebellion over plans to leave the parliament buildings during a multibillion-pound refurbishment, as the Commons Treasury committee launches a review of the costs.
The former cabinet minister is among a cross-party group of MPs who have written to colleagues urging them to vote against moving out while the restoration work takes place.
A report from the consultants Deloitte, endorsed by a joint commission of MPs and peers, found that the project would take 30 years and cost £6bn if politicians remained on site but take six years and cost £3.5bn if they vacated the parliament buildings.
Critics headed by the senior Conservative Shailesh Vara argue that the report is flawed and the cost difference is much smaller once items such as VAT and security for new sites are taken out. The time taken to complete the works could also be cut from 30 years to 10 if the builders worked around the clock, the former justice minister said.
Sir Edward Leigh, a Tory MP and former chairman of the public accounts committee — the spending watchdog — as well as the Labour MPs Stephen Pound, George Howarth and Sir Alan Meale and the Liberal Democrat John Pugh have all signed the letter, joining forces with Vara and Gove.
Advertisement
They urge colleagues to back their plan, which would see MPs move to the House of Lords, with peers sitting in the royal gallery. “The alternative — accepting a full decant — means we are out of this building entirely for six, or more likely eight, years,” the group said.
“We would build a folly of a replica chamber in Richmond House courtyard for £85m while the House of Lords is moved to the soulless QE2 conference centre.”
Vara believes at least 100 Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MPs, as well as the Scottish Nationalists, will back him. A vote is imminent.
The costings have already been questioned by Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury select committee. He will launch a formal inquiry into the project tomorrow.
“Neither the report by Deloitte nor that by the joint commission provides enough of the evidence needed to come even to a preliminary decision on these proposals. So the committee will attempt to collect some of it,” he said.