The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 provided for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to take over the existing role of the Law Lords and some powers of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Agree or disagree with the Act as you wish but guess what has resulted? Lord Falconer, Tony Blair's ex-flatmate and now Lord Chancellor, decided that a new building was needed for this new body even though it had been happily working in its previous incarnation within the Palace of Westminster. So £100,000,000 is Lord Falconer's current estimate of the cost of setting up the new building for this new court. £63,000,000 will be the cost of converting Middlesex Guildhall, that rather dark neo-Gothic building on the opposite side of the roundabout from the Palace of Westminster. Provision of consultancy fees, IT equipment, a library and top quality furniture will add £20,200,000 to the bill. Moving the courts previously housed at the Guildhall to Isleworth will add a further £18,200,000. This makes a total of £101,400,000 in up-front costs. An absolute bargain I am sure you agree. Running costs were estimated last year at £9,400,000 a year, the latest estimate has, you will not be surprised to learn, risen to £12,300,000, a 20% increase in one year, never mind it is just the taxpayer that will pay.
If the Guildhall was operating as a court or courts why does £63 million have to be spent on converting the building? Is Derry Irvine advising on the wallpaper? Why is it costing £18.2 million to move those lower courts to Isleworth? Isleworth is not that pricey a place to relocate to.
Why does this Government waste so much money on fripperies?
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