Member

Amendment 1 in the name of my noble friend seeks to cap the expenditure for this project at £138.8 million, with a reasonable 15% contingency. It seems reasonable for the Government to cap their expenditure on the project to protect the taxpayer and ensure good value for money. There are times where we feel financial caps should be implemented in law, but in this circumstance, we believe that it could have unintended consequences. None of us wants a half-finished project left as an eyesore in Victoria Tower Gardens because the project’s costs have overrun.