Keeping MPs in the Houses of Parliament while the buildings are refurbished will cost as much £22bn and could take 76 years, a parliamentary assessment has concluded.
A previous plan to move MPs into a nearby government office was effectively killed off last year by Jacob Rees-Mogg, then leader of the Commons, who dismissed as “fanciful” the idea that parliament could not work around the restoration and renewal project.
The report by the parliamentary works sponsor body looked at a range of options for carrying out the refurbishment works and found that a full decant of politicians would involve MPs moving out for 12 to 20 years and cost £7bn-£13bn; a compromise option that kept MPs in the Commons for as long as possible before moving out for the final phase of works would take 10 years longer and cost between £9.5bn and £18.5bn; while keeping MPs in the Commons throughout the work would increase the cost to £11bn-£22bn and take between 46 and 76 years.
