One man's mission to move the Houses of Parliament to Sheffield and Leeds in a 'true redistribution of power'

Under Avtar's plan, the House of Commons would be built in Sheffield and the House of Lords in Leeds.The two cities would be connected by high speed rail. Getty Images

Avtar Singh, aged 54, was shocked when he heard that the cost of renovations to the Houses of Parliament could run up to £14 billion and take 20 years to complete.

In December, he came up with a novel way to save the government some money and increase funding and investment for the north of England – build two new Houses of Parliament in Sheffield and Leeds.

Avtar’s petition, started on Boxing Day has one signature so far, and states: “I say let [the Houses of Parliament] rot!! Sell off the land to the highest bidder and use it to finance a High Speed Rail link from Sheffield to Leeds. Then move the House of commons to Sheffield and the House of Lords to Leeds and let's have some true redistribution of power.”

Avtar says that moving the Houses of Parliament to Yorkshire would help regenerate the north.

Avtar, who has never been to Yorkshire and lives in Leicester, said that because the north needs regeneration, Parliament should be moved to major northern cities to attract investment. He added that Manchester was not central enough, whereas Sheffield and Leeds are in a prime position.

Avtar said: “Until people who run the country are living and working in the north they don’t care. Our MPs are really all Londoners - even if they are originally from the north. They become Londonised. The way they are so focused on London, the north is seen as some sort of industrial wasteland.

“Put them in the north and they will have a northern point of view. Sheffield and Leeds could make a new capital and people would want to invest there.

"When I speak to people about the petition they normally say it’s a good idea but everybody believes everything is impossible. It’s quite a defeatist attitude. It might be impossible but so was Brexit, Trump, and Leicester winning the league.

"If enough people support the petition the government will have to cave. It will take a strong entity to do that and the only entity big enough is Yorkshire.”

Avtar also suggested making Sheffield and Leeds the joint capital city of England, connected by high speed rail.

The petition, which has one signature so far, can be found here