Austin: Bring Parliament to the Black Country
Ian Austin has called for a new Parliament chamber to be built in the Black Country.
The Dudley North MP wants the building to be located outside the capital in a move he says will bring thousands of jobs to the West Midlands.
A £1.5bn temporary House of Commons chamber is currently planned for the Grade II* listed Richmond House in London, where MPs are due to sit when the Palace of Westminster undergoes a £7bn refurbishment.
But in a debate, Mr Austin argued that moving Parliament to the West Midlands could be an opportunity to "break the Westminster bubble".
He said: "Parliament badly needs refurbishment and I think we use this opportunity to break the Westminster bubble and move MPs and government departments out of London to the Midlands.
"Unlike other countries we’ve got government, Parliament, business, finance and the media all concentrated in London, so let’s set an example and move Parliament out of London – preferably to West Midlands in the middle of the country.
“I think that would take pressure off London’s overheated economy and imagine how moving government to the regions could help bring new investment and new jobs to areas like the Midlands.
"Most important of all, it would force the metropolitan elite ruining the government and the civil service to listen to the rest of us and find out what life is like outside London.”
Mr Austin has previously moved a Parliamentary Bill proposing to move 100,000 civil service jobs from London to the regions, saving £10bn from the sale of expensive London offices and an extra £725m annually from ;lower property and staffing costs.
