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The political elite could do with a change of scenery

September 3, 2012 2:06 pm

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Sometimes leaving home is difficult, but often it’s for the best. Parliamentary authorities are in the process of deciding how to renovate a Palace of Westminster that is badly in need of repair. Although the building is not due to slip into the Thames, which might be popular with the electorate, serious work needs to be done to keep it going and make it safe. Leaks are damaging the ceiling above Teresa May’s desk and the building is riddled with asbestos. It needs to be gutted.  A number of options are currently being considered including closing the building completely for five years to let the repairs take place. Parliamentarians might be moved to a new location. This could be in London but it does offer the opportunity try something different – move parliament to a new city.

Earlier this year Lord Adonis made the serious suggestion, and he always had to make clear that it was serious, that the House of Lords should move to the Salford Quays in Manchester if reform of the upper house is agreed upon. His argument was quite clear. Power in the UK is concentrated to an unhealthy degree in London and the south east of England. London is New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles rolled into one and the rest of the country suffers in its shadow. If half the legislature moved north this imbalance would be addressed to some extent. There would be limited damage to the public finances because the Lords could sell the very expensive property portfolio it has accumulated.

The proposed renovations offer a unique opportunity for both Houses of Parliament to move to a different city in the UK even if it is just for a trial period. After all, as Baroness Wheatcroft has pointed out, it would be useful to keep both Houses together wherever they may end up. Where should our esteemed politicians go? The cities with the most obvious appeal are Manchester and Birmingham. Indeed, the geographic centre of the UK is just north of Manchester. Andrew Grossett has argued in favour of Middlesbrough being the best place to relocate both Houses. While his arguments are mostly based on what relocation could do for investment in the north east he does point out that it would be far cheaper to locate government and civil service jobs in the north east than it is in central London. If businesses find it reasonable to locate in low cost business parks with good transport links, why not our politicians?

Relocation also has the potential to change the mindset of the political elite. The Palace of Westminster itself, a truly exceptional building, seems to have a strange impact on MPs. Famously, Tony Blair was ‘thunderstuck’ the first time he entered the Central Lobby and claims in his autobiography that this was the moment he felt being an MP was his ‘destiny’. The place is steeped in a history that is difficult to escape. Statues of the great and the good, mostly aristocratic and religious figures, litter the building. Aneurin Bevan felt that this could lead to some legislators becoming more ‘heavy-foot and cautious’ than they would otherwise. A new building would liberate parliamentarians from this weight of history.

MPs are, of course, wary of leaving Westminster. However, it should not blind them to the potential for good a move would have. If Prime Ministers feel it is important to hold cabinet meetings in different parts of the country why not consider moving parliament for a period of time? If it works well it could be made permanent. There is something for every party in the move. For the Tories it offers the opportunity to move bureaucrats to a cheaper location and to get rid of wasteful ceremonial public sector employees such as Black Rod (salary in 2008 £81,600). For Labour it offers the chance for job creation in areas that need it. The Lib Dems might get the semi-circular chamber they (probably) have always dreamt of. More importantly it could offer politicians a chance to get out of the media, finance and business bubble of London and to get a bit closer to the reality that most people in the country live every day.

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  • http://twitter.com/johnringer John Ringer

    Considering that Black Rod is in charge of security for one half of the biggest terrorist target in London, I think £81k is pretty fair pay.

    As I said when Adonis’s proposals came up, I think people underestimate just how hallowed the grounds of the Palace of Westminster are. Parliament will never meet anywhere else, except perhaps during a temporary renovation. I, too, question the necessity of such an impractical building with such a huge burden of history, I agree that the abundance of statues of dead white aristocratic Christian men is very problematic, but the fact remains that Parliament has been meeting on the same site for nearly 750 years and for me and most people that’s reason enough to keep it there.

    Fundamentally, London is the capital of the UK. Parliament (and Buckingham/St James’s palaces) is what makes it the capital, not the businesses or the civil servants. By all means, move the Gherkin to Middlesbrough, or the MoD to Salford, but unless we want to have a serious discussion about changing the capital of this country, Parliament is going to stay in London.

  • rekrab

    An interesting article, many people North of London feel departed from Westminster, it was probably a major factor in the reopening of the Scottish parliament.A fundamental issue is the need for greater democracy and how we embrace that? Surely an MP from Scotland is no less weighted than an MP from London and more importantly surely the public deserve greater access to parliamentary procedures than just the public of London. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

    This wouldn’t be a problem if the English regions also had meaningful devolution

  • Chilbaldi

    What will happen: Parliament will be closed for 5 years and they will move down the road towards Victoria to that conference centre (I forget what is called) in the meantime.

    I hear what you are saying re moving to another city. It is a noble idea but very impractical – what about all the employees in London you would make redundant? What about the issue of second homes and the expense in rehousing MPs in the new city? What about transporting the libraries and archives, or creating copies in the new location?

    Your idea of housing Parliament on a rotation between cities is interesting, but I imagine it would be even more impractical.

    Lastly, I echo the other poster’s comment about Westminster. It is an almost holy place, the seat of our democracy for centuries. It is to our democracy what the Vatican is to Catholicism, the Golden Temple is to Sihkism.

  • UKAzeri

    the building’s location would not affect who its inhabitants are … unfortunatly  :)

  • rekrab

    Isn’t it an abjective means to curtail a greater democracy?

  • Brumanuensis

    As a Birmingham resident, I would be delighted if Parliament relocated to what is, after all, Britain’s second city. The National Indoor Arena could be adapted for that purpose. However, for historical reasons, I propose that if Parliament relocates, it should relocate to York, a fine city which has historically been one of the northern England’s most important cities.

    I don’t by the ‘let’s all be friends’ restructuring that Liberal Insight want; politics should be adversarial. This ‘why can’t you all get along’ nonsense is more of a threat to democracy than any amount of ‘partisanship’.

  • Brumanuensis

    Certainly the EU’s ridiculous periodic relocation to Strasbourg is a bad precedent for rotating the seat of Parliament.

  • Chilbaldi

    Agree, and this must happen.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/JNCTPY54L5PWVMREGWZ7GXGRLY stuart

    Manchester and Birmingham do not have ‘obvious appeal’.
    I have been there.
    So I know that neither has.
    Stratford-upon-Avon is rather nice, though.

    • Brumanuensis

      Birmingham is a fine city, much nicer than large areas of London. We’ve got outstanding parks, more miles of canals than Venice, the Jewellery Quarter, a thriving city centre, one of the most beautiful university campuses in the country (in Edgbaston) and to top it all, we’re populated with some of the friendliest people you’ll meet in the UK.

      I just wish the road network was better.

    • Brumanuensis

      Birmingham is a fine city, much nicer than large areas of London. We’ve got outstanding parks, more miles of canals than Venice, the Jewellery Quarter, a thriving city centre, one of the most beautiful university campuses in the country (in Edgbaston) and to top it all, we’re populated with some of the friendliest people you’ll meet in the UK.

      I just wish the road network was better.

  • jonathanmorse

    Why not merge 2 northern univerities and stick Parliament inthe empty campus. The tories are in the process of closing down 1 london uni so I guess we can do without another, and all that student accommodation, refrectories and libraries can support the democracy in action. Might be easier to defend. Turm Westminster into a museum. Parliament may be 750 years old but the buildings aren’t else there would be no asbestos!

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