RYEDALE’S MP has welcomed talks of moving the House of Lords north to York as one of the ways to “level up” the UK.

Kevin Hollinrake said he would be delighted if the Lords moved to York under plans revealed this week.

According to reports, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is looking to force the 800 peers in the upper house to base themselves permanently in York or Birmingham.

Mr Hollinrake said: “One of the ways to ‘level up’ the UK is move well-paid jobs out of London and into the North.

“I would be delighted if the Lords moved to York, but if this proves unworkable, we should find other public bodies that can be moved and relocate them as soon as possible.”

The Prime Minister has told officers to start working on the plan and a site for a new House of Lords building has already been identified close to York Railway Station, according to a Government source quoted in the Sunday Times.

A decision on the move is likely to be made during the constitutional review of Parliament later this year as part of plans to move MPs and Lords out of Westminster while the Houses of Parliament are renovated.

If the plans are approved, the House of Lords could be sitting in York within a few years.

James Cleverly, chairman of the Conservative Party, confirmed the move to York was being investigated.

“It’s one of a range of things that we are looking into,” he said. “It’s about demonstrating to people that we are going to do things differently.”

The proposed site is on Government-owned land west of York Railway Station and is believed to be part of the huge York Central development area.

City of York Council and its partners have spent years drawing up plans for the area between the station and Water End, which includes the National Railway Museum and a large stretch of railway land.

Andrew Digwood, president of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said such a move would give renewed purpose to the long-anticipated York Central development, create investment and jobs and improve infrastructure as well as raising the city’s profile nationally.

Mr Digwood, who is also a partner at Rollits solicitors in York, said: “It would be - and is already, it seems - some great, unsolicited profile-raising for York as a city to be taken seriously, and not merely an historical bauble.

“It potentially represents a game-changing opportunity to secure both an ‘anchor tenancy’ and a real renewed sense of purpose for York Central, which further enhances the sense that the critical mass of York need not always be confined by its walls.”

Mr Digwood added: “I would love such a relocation to be both a beacon for new inward investment and an opportunity for existing York businesses to feel the benefits, being able to compete for related contracts on at least an equal footing with national competitors perhaps in existing government contract relationships.”