Lords ask for £50m Westminster offices

The House of Lords is pressing the Government for a multimillion-pound suite of offices to accommodate peers and their staff.

The move shows that a shortage of space for MPs and peers persists despite the recent construction of Portcullis House, the luxurious office and accommodation block near Westminster Bridge, which cost £234m.

Officials in the Lords have submitted a bid – understood to be about £50m – to the Treasury to buy and develop a suitable site close to the Palace of Westminster. General Sir Michael Wilcocks, Black Rod, is leading the calls for the proposed expansion.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP for West Bromwich East, said: "These sorts of sums for extra accommodation seem like staggering amounts to me. I am not aware of any significant increase in the number of peers or their back-up staff. We must be able to find the likes of Black Rod a corner desk somewhere without raiding taxpayers' money to this extent."

The Independent revealed last month that the bill for peers' expenses jumped by 20 per cent to more than £10m in 2001-02, with the number of peers claiming more than £30,000 almost trebling from the previous year.

The annual cost of running the Lords, which has 703 members and sat for 134 days, is £56.3m.