The government has again raised the prospect of the House of Lords moving to York, this time as part of their ‘levelling up’ agenda.
But this time our city has competition…
Michael Gove is Levelling Up Secretary. He told Times Radio this morning (Wednesday): “We’ve got our friends in the House of Lords who will have to move out of their current building, at the moment, because of the renovation of the Palace of Westminster.
“I think it’d be a really good thing if the House of Lords were to meet for at least part of the time in Glasgow or in York. I think it would do us all good.”
The idea of relocating the Lords to York was first raised by Boris Johnson in January 2020.
He even sent a team to York to conduct a feasibility study into the plan.
However, many of the peers themselves objected – one said York was “seen as something of an outer Mongolia by the general public”.
Since then, all has gone quiet. But judging by Mr Gove’s comments, the idea of a temporary relocation to York is on the agenda now.
People in the North and Midlands have been “overlooked and undervalued for years” by politicians, he said on Sky News this morning.
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Speaking on Sky News, the Levelling Up Secretary said: “The Brexit referendum was a wake-up call.
“As well as a clear commandment to leave the European Union it was also a way of saying to people in SW1, people like me, ‘look, it’s vital that you change the economic model of this country. It’s all very well if people are in London and the Southeast in financial services and others do well, we don’t begrudge that. But you’ve got to listen to us’.”