A YORK MP will today call for an independent committee to be set up to make recommendations on where and how the remains of Richard III should be buried.

The bones of the last Yorkist king, discovered during an archaeological dig in a Leicester car park, have been at the centre of a row over where they should be reinterred, with York’s claim being backed by the monarch’s living descendants and a petition signed by tens of thousands of people.

York Central MP Hugh Bayley will today use an adjournment debate in the House of Commons to press the Ministry of Justice to form an “advisory committee” to assess where Richard’s remains should be buried. He said the University of Leicester was given a licence to excavate the remains of “persons unknown”, but as these remains had now been identified, the Ministry could change the terms of the licence.

Mr Bayley said he would argue the Government should now decide the burial location, rather than Leicester University being responsible for the reinterment decision, which he said had been made without consultation with Richard’s descendants and other parties.

“King Richard III did a lot for York and the north of England, and during his life he made arrangements to be buried here,” he said.

“He was not well-treated in Leicester after his death and I think his soul would rest in peace back in York.

“It is dreadful that some people are still fighting the Wars of the Roses and we should seek reconciliation, wherever he is reburied. I want an independent committee to decide how, where and when the reburial takes place and to involve cities and people from both north and south.”