The cheapest and easiest solution is to use a church (Dreams of a modern parliament are as crumbled as the palace, 11 May). Many London churches were designed to accommodate well over 600 worshipers and are underused. Most have replaced their forward-facing pews with chairs. The churches are used mostly on Saturdays and Sundays when parliament is away. So the solution is to find a large church with chairs, turn them to face the nave in the week and forward for weddings and services at the weekend. It might even have the benefit of making MPs show more respect for the institution they sit in, instead of shouting as though they were still in the playground. If they don’t want to use the vestry or meeting rooms as voting lobbies, why not design a voting app to go on their phones, which most now seem preoccupied by? I’m sure that there are better ways to spend billions than on a temporary debating chamber.
Martin Cooper
Bromley, Kent
• I heartily endorse the sentiments of Matt Dobson, John Rigby and Peter Phillips (Letters, 11 May) on our dysfunctional palace of Westminster. Get parliament out of London, not temporarily but permanently. Build a modern parliament building with seats for everyone, arranged hemispherically with means for voting electronically. Build it somewhere that has been neglected by successive governments for decades – Mansfield perhaps? A much-needed boost for the area and a great learning experience for our politicians.
At the same time, modernise the whole way the institution works. The much-loved gothic monstrosity in Westminster could be turned into luxury apartments or a hotel for the supersonically rich, with perhaps part saved as a museum. Let’s not miss this opportunity to move the whole Ruritanian enterprise into the 21st century.
Shona Hardie
Woodbridge, Suffolk
• Simon Jenkins is spot on when he objects to the plans and the costs of temporarily housing MPs in London while the Palace of Westminster is being refurbished (Journal, 10 May). At a time when public respect for and confidence in MPs is at a dismally low ebb, this is a terrific opportunity to dig MPs out of their Westminster silo, using an imaginative temporary solution, like moving to another city. Instead, the taxpayer is expected to pick up the tab so MPs won’t be inconvenienced. I’d start a petition if I thought it would do any good, but my experience of petitions is that even when they garner massive public support, only lip service is paid to debating them. Does anyone have any good ideas on how we can exert influence to halt this woeful and expensive proposal?
Helena Twist
London
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