Moving House of Lords to Stoke-on-Trent or York "would be nonsense", David Blunkett claims

The former Home Secretary and Sheffield MP told the House of Lords that the consequences of such a move on the operation of democracy had not been thought out on both practical and constitutional grounds.

“Some of those who have been putting forward the notion of splitting our Parliament have a brain and understand exactly what they are doing but are not mindful of the long-term consequences and the spin-off that would occur in the way our democracy works,” he said.

“If our Parliament is split and the two halves are in different locations, and it is not possible for people to make representations, for us to share those representations with the other House, to hear from experts as well as pressure groups, and to draw down on the expertise that exists across our Parliament and within the confines of the hinterland of Parliament, we will not be able to fulfil our functions.

“I can easily dismiss the splitting of the two Houses: Black Rod leaping on to a train which gets held up at Milton Keynes and taking a bus through to Stoke-on-Trent to knock on a door that has already been opened, the Queen having been held up somewhere on the M6 — that is the kind of nonsense we are talking about. Or there are the practicalities of a relocation of 600-odd individuals working directly in this House, not including those who work for Peers. Nobody has thought through the impact on a community in terms of house prices, rents and the knock-on effects — it is a nonsense.

“However, the constitutional issue is the centrepiece and the core of why it is nonsense.”

The warning came after Cabinet minister Michael Gove suggested the upper chamber could move to Stoke-on-Trent during the multi-billion-pound restoration of the parliamentary estate.

The Levelling Up Secretary put forward the idea after ruling out the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, which is just a few minutes’ walk from the Palace of Westminster in London, as an alternative location for the Lords during any decant.

The conference and exhibition space is an executive agency that comes under Mr Gove’s department.

It is not the first time ministers have suggested moving the unelected chamber, where the Government does not have a majority, with York previously mentioned as a possible home during the extensive renovation of the crumbling Palace of Westminster.

The Government has insisted any future decamp was a matter for Parliament.

Leading a debate on the issue at Parliament, constitutional expert and Tory peer Lord Norton of Louth stressed the need for both Houses to be located together in order to fulfil their respective functions.

He said: “Separating the two chambers empowers Government. The suggestion that the House of Lords moves to a different part of the country with the House of Commons in Westminster is essentially a power grab by the executive.

“I am not making the case against the House of Lords moving. I am making the case against the House of Lords alone moving.

“If one chamber moves, the other must do as well and so too must the executive.

“If Westminster decamps then so too must Whitehall.”

Liberal Democrat Lord Stoneham of Droxford said: “I do find it slightly ironic that those who were telling us a few years ago about the huge extravagance and duplication of housing the European Parliament in two places are now very keen for Parliament to meet in two locations.”

Former Lord Speaker Lord Fowler said: “I don’t think that what is proposed adds up one bit to a levelling-up agenda. The public are not fools. They would see it as an empty public relations measure – a measure which has a range of practical drawbacks.”

He added: “Far from increasing the influence of the second chamber with Government it will, by the policy of separation, decrease that influence. Out of the way, out of sight, that is the danger.”

Tory former Cabinet minister Lord Young of Cookham said: “I notice it is not proposed the Commons should join us in this exodus.

“If relocation of the Lords elsewhere would have a leading role to play in delivering the levelling-up agenda … would not that impetus be magnified several times over if we were to be joined by the other place?

“Sauce for the ermine goose is surely sauce for the plebeian gander.”

Responding, Cabinet Office minister Lord True told peers any decision about its location was to be decided by them, and that they could not be forced to move by the Government.

He said: “By the principle of exclusive cognisance. Any decision of its location is a matter for this House itself to decide upon.

“The Government – and I speak at this despatch box as a Government minister – recognises and respects that position.”

He added that he agreed with “all of those points” raised regarding the benefits of co-location.

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