MPs voted yesterday to move out of the Palace of Westminster and decamp elsewhere while major renovation work takes place.
The £4bn renovation will take approximately six years, and could risk a “catastrophic failure” such as a fire or a flood. So it’s probably wise that our country’s leaders are moving out.
But where will MPs go once the builders take over the crumbling wreck that is our country’s seat of power? Birmingham, Bristol, or Manchester are a few cities that have been thrown about as possible options.
Manchester – the home of Coronation Street, the Curry Mile, English football and Oasis – seems to be coming out ahead. And with living costs that are 33 % lower than in the Big Smoke, it would save MPs on their expenses.
Chris Williamson, the Labour MP for Derby North tweeted his support for a move up the M1.
The Houses of Parliament should be moved to the North of the country, which is why I've voted for the amendment tonight that queries why no assessment has been made to relocate parliament. If the current building is refurbished it will still be totally unfit for purpose.
— Chris Williamson MP (@DerbyChrisW) January 31, 2018
But it’s not just the possibility of a cheap curry that’s drawing people to Manchester.
The Guardian columnist, Simon Jenkins, has long been an advocate of a move to Britain’s ‘capital of the North’, believing it would reconnect MPs to the people of the provinces, and switch the country’s centre of gravity.
At the moment, despite MPs living in constituencies up and down the country, we still have a very London-centric political system. Spending six years outside the capital would undoubtedly help to strengthen relations with those that feel distanced from an establishment wrapped up in a London bubble.
George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse scheme – meant to distribute power back to the Northern regions – is already encouraging growth in infrastructure, but politically the statement of moving to ‘Manny’ would be significant.
It would rupture the North/South divide that still zigzags across our country, boosting investment and shifting the focus away from the capital, which has long been miles ahead of other parts of Britain when it comes to wealth distribution.
Jonn Elledge, editor of CityMetric, wrote in an article published last year that the UK’s economic policy has tended to “prioritise the needs of the capital”, moving MPs out would hopefully shift their perspective, and bring further benefits to the Northern city and surrounding towns.
So will MPs follow the BBC (which moved part of its operations to Salford a few years ago) up to Manchester?
The crux of the issue is, quite boringly, down to practicalities and space. Manchester Town Hall would be the obvious venue, but it is currently in need of urgent repairs itself. There are 650 MPs and 789 Lords – plus their staff. Finding a place to house all of them is no mean feat.
But the bubble must be burst. A move up North would be a move towards a more equal country.