JACOB Rees-Mogg has trashed an official review’s recommendation for MPs and peers to be temporarily relocated in Whitehall during multi-billion-pound restorations to the UK Parliament, saying it was “for the birds”.

The Commons Leader said the confirmation of the proposal that MPs should relocate to nearby Richmond House, across from Downing St, as workers restored the crumbling Palace of Westminster would cost £1.5 billion in creating temporary chambers as he warned spiralling costs could turn Parliament into “Disneyland”.

He instead called for hybrid proceedings to continue so there was a mix of physical and virtual participation in debates, something he has been a regular critic of during the coronavirus pandemic.

The review by the Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority said the relocation would be minimised through a “phased approach” but that fully vacating the palace would last for “likely years rather than months”.

In a statement it said the temporary local relocation would be the “most secure, cost-effective and practical solution” with the plan being submitted to Parliament for final consideration.

And it said the review found that restoring the historic building while all parliamentarians remained on site would “cost billions of pounds more and take decades longer” than the temporary move.

However, an unconvinced Mr Rees-Mogg told MPs: “The proposal for Richmond House and for the Queen Elizabeth Centre was that there would be about £1.5bn of expenditure on temporary chambers. This can’t have been a sensible thing to do, even in less straitened financial times. In current circumstances, it seems to me to be for the birds.

“I am not the greatest advocate of hybrid proceedings, they’re better than nothing but they’re not as good as real, physical participation in debate. But I’d rather have hybrid proceedings for a little bit where we couldn’t use this chamber than spend £1.5bn.

“And we as Members of Parliament have a responsibility to our constituents, when their money is being spent, to accept while great restorations are taking place, we may have to put up with a little bit of discomfort, there may be occasionally a little bit of banging and noise being made, we can’t be too fussy about that if we’re to keep this as a working operational building.”

He acknowledged the palace did need safety improvements but warned of costs reaching up to £20bn.

“And, yes, we need to redo the wiring, yes, we need to ensure this place is safe and secure but we must not turn this House of Commons into Disneyland,” he declared.

David Goldstone the restoration authority chief, said it was “absolutely committed to getting on with the job, making sure we spend money effectively, focusing on the vital and essential work that needs doing”.

The authority confirmed the plans to relocate locally after Boris Johnson suggested a move to York.

However, this suggestion did not prove popular with those who use the palace with 19% of respondents expressing clear views that moving the Lords far from the Commons “was not practical or acceptable”. Some 6% suggested one or both houses could move outside of London.

The body will continue to look at plans that could see access enabled to the palace from the Thames, perhaps from a dry dock erected alongside the building, to speed up work.

The restoration team will continue to develop a fully costed plan but a price tag of around £4bn has previously been estimated.