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MPs fear secret plans have been drawn up to rebuild the crumbling House of Commons – in Northampton.

They suspect a £4billion bill for vital restoration work from 2023 will escalate and once they have moved out for six years, they will never come back.

Labour’s Stephen Pound said: “Delays will run into years and they will say, ‘Let’s turn Parliament into a museum and build a new one somewhere else’. We will be hurled into the outer darkness, never to return.”

Precedent allows Parliament to sit at York, Lincoln, Salisbury, Oxford or Northampton.

Mr Pound added: “Northampton would be favourite because it is in the middle of the country.”

MPs are suspicious because officials agreed to silence Big Ben for repair for four years – from tomorrow – while they were away on holiday, so they could not object.

(Image: Alamy)

They think another fast one may be pulled over repairing the rest of the Palace of Westminster , which is riddled with asbestos , if costs overrun and it is cheaper for the taxpayer to build a new Parliament.

ToryNigel Evans said: “Millionaires will be made out of this and the taxpayer will be lining their pockets. If we have to go, it’s possible we’ll never come back.”

A Parliamentary spokesperson said: "There is no secret plan. Both Houses made a clear commitment in 2012 that the Palace would remain the permanent home of Parliament. That has not changed and preserving the Palace as the home of the United Kingdom's Parliament remains the absolute objective of the works proposed."