HOPES that the House of Lords might relocate to York have been dealt a blow by a senior Tory MP.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Commons liaison committee, has proposed that peers should instead move to a church near Parliament, saying this would be more cost effective and practical.

Sir Bernard has written to Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the Commons, to propose that St Margaret's Church in Parliament Square should be used as a temporary location.

He said he felt the church, where Sir Winston Churchill got married, was the perfect location for the Lords, although he thought there was a case for the House of Lords to meet occasionally out of London.

Sir Bernard told The Press today he haad now made a formal submission to a review, which included this idea, but it was 'only an idea.'

He said:" The feasibility, costs and benefits need to be assessed.  I am in favour of both Houses of Parliament occasionally meeting in York or in other cities, but it is not practical either to make York a permanent home for either House, nor for parliament to have more than one permanent home."

His reported comments come after Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested last month that a Government hub could be created in York and it would make sense to consider the city as a potential location for peers when repair works are carried out at the Houses of Parliament, at a cost of billions of pounds in 2025.

York council leader Keith Aspden, said then that he welcomed the possibility of temporarily relocating one or both Houses of Parliament, saying: "There is real potential for this idea to bring major benefits, not only to York, but to our wider region, including higher paid and skilled jobs.

“Whilst discussions are at an early stage, I have already offered the council’s support in developing these proposals and I look forwarding to seeing the promises made to our city, region and the North, to level up, being delivered.”

York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said the the fact that York was being considered in this way was 'obviously a huge tribute to our city,' adding: "This idea, and the wider consideration of York as a place to relocate civil service jobs to form a new ‘government hub’ here, reflect our city’s status as a well-connected, liveable city, and its historic role as the capital of Northern England."

Later, city chiefs hit back after a member of the House of Lords, Lord Singh of Wimbledon, said York was “seen as something of an outer Mongolia by the general public" during a discussion about relocating the upper house to the city.

York councillors said criticism of the proposed move revealed some members of the House of Lords were "badly out of touch".