London: Could Parliament and Even the Capital be Moved?

This week’s attack in Westminster has thrown a spotlight on London’s status as the nation’s capital and parliamentary base. Pointed questions are being asked once again about whether the 1000-year-old Palace of Westminster is fit for the security challenges of the 21st Century, not to mention the technological needs of the 1,450 members of the two Houses of Parliament. 

With the parliamentary estate overdue for renovations that could take six years and cost billions, the MPs and Lords are eventually going to be ousted anyway, forcing them to settle elsewhere at least for a while. Civil servants have for some time been quietly searching for a potential replacement venue, prompting many outside the capital to argue that one solution to what they see as London’s stifling dominance of the nation would be a permanent shift of the legislature to somewhere like Manchester.

Moving parliament seems an astonishing idea and it would not even be contemplated if it were seen as a security retreat or running away from terrorism. But the experience of other countries shows that it is not impossible to move a parliament or even to designate a new capital city, and there are rational economic and political arguments for banishing the political class from the overcrowded city on the Thames. 

Capital cities aren’t set in stone

London has been capital since it took that status from Camulodunum, or Colchester in Essex, about 19 centuries ago but there are plenty of countries that have changed their capitals. Russia moved its capital from Moscow and then back again, while Brazil relocated from Rio to the purpose-built capital Brasilia. Argentina almost changed from Buenos Aires as recently as 2014 and Japan’s capital has bounced about all over the place. Some of the shifts have been driven by security reasons or political intrigues.

Many cited overcrowding – Rio de Janeiro was simply too full and Colombo in Sri Lanka needed to ease its congestion when it ceded its official capital status to its satellite city Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte in 1978 . Ivory Coast moved capitals for political reasons and Nigeria to create a religiously neutral, planned city. Australia’s story is so wonderfully Aussie – no one could decide between Melbourne and Sydney so to stop the arguments and be fair to both contenders they built it in a backwater in between them, Canberra.

Are Two Heads better than one?

Some countries have multiple capitals. South Africa for example has three. Pretoria is its administrative capital, Cape Town its legislative and Bloemfontein the judicial. There are all sorts of ways that a nation can share the roles of its commercial, population and government hubs. 

Everyone’s idea of a capital is different – it might just be a seat of government like Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, a royal capital like Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, a seat of commerce like Colombo in Sri Lanka or maybe even a capital of culture. Regardless, capitals old and new seem to have a certain je ne sais quoi about them, as we expect fame and power to go hand in hand. Valparaiso may be home to Chile’s parliament while The Hague and Sejong City are their nations’ administrative capitals but all three are outshone by the bright lights of their official capitals Santiago, Amsterdam and Seoul.

That is why London’s real status will not be up for grabs when discussion eventually resumes about parliament’s future. Whatever its official designation, the city that was founded as Londinium in 43 AD will remain the heart of the UK long past the 21st Century.

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