Member

I now turn to Amendment 13, which has the effect of confining the proposal set out in the Bill to a memorial. I ask the Government to take such an amendment seriously. The current proposal for a memorial and a learning centre is estimated to cost, as has been set out clearly by those speaking on the earlier group of amendments, to more than £138 million, considerably more with the large contingency that has been included, bringing the figure up to something like £190 million at current prices. A well designed and compelling stand-alone memorial with a courtyard could be constructed for around £25 million in Victoria Tower Gardens. A much improved Holocaust learning centre, relocated in a more suitable place elsewhere, ought to be considered for the second stage of this project. Such a decision would help remove the massive controversy associated with the Bill as currently drafted. I beg the Minister to look at that as an alternative proposal to what is before us today. I beg to move.