Notre-Dame was restored in five years and under budget. But the Palace of Westminster? No chance | Simon Jenkins

Estimated costs have already risen from £3.5bn to £40bn. The PM should bite the bullet and relocate MPs outside London – permanently

What is the most reactionary public institution in Britain, the most outdated and immune to reform? It is the one that orders us to keep changing: parliament. It is also the most wildly extravagant. When the issue is hospitals, prisons and care homes, austerity is often the answer. When it comes to its own premises, only the best will do.

Big Ben has recently been restored at a cost of £80m and the entire Palace of Westminster has been reroofed for another £80m. Back in the 2000s, the basement was also reportedly much in need of repair. Its piping and wiring were so decayed they would fail within five to 10 years. Various committees debated and dithered, and eventually invited London’s most pukka consultants, Deloitte, to estimate what needed doing, which published its findings in 2014.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist