MPs must first decide whether they can "afford to justify" repairs to the Houses of Parliament before ensuring value for money, according to Andrea Leadsom.

The Commons Leader insisted work is needed to restore the Palace of Westminster, although she said there must be an "open discussion" among MPs about how to approach this.

Concerns over cost and public opinion have dogged the project, with previous estimates ranging from around £3.5 billion to £7.1 billion, depending on how quickly they are carried out and whether MPs and peers agree to temporarily relocate during the works.

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Mrs Leadsom has tabled two motions for debate on January 31, with the first allowing MPs to authorise essential repairs but agree to review before the end of the parliament in 2022 the "need for comprehensive works".

The second would establish a body to carry out a "sufficiently thorough and detailed analysis" of various aspects linked to the restoration work, including MPs and peers either moving out or partially staying during the repairs, and seek to push forward the process sooner.

Mrs Leadsom said the decision before MPs included weighing up the palace's status as a "historic, national icon" alongside costs to taxpayers.

Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz said it was "quite surprising" that the debate had been allocated half a day in the Commons, which equates to approximately three hours.

The Labour MP also asked the Government to "think again and re-table the motions" to fully take into account assessment work done by the Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster.

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Mrs Leadsom replied: "The reason for the motion is to be very clear that this is a decision for the House.

"The House needs to decide whether we can afford to justify the undoubted work that needs to take place to restore this palace, a Unesco world heritage site that has over a million visitors a year - at a time there are great fiscal constraints.

"It's a genuinely open decision that the House needs to make.

"What the Government has sought to do - taking into account the very broad range of views from across the House on what should happen - is to put forward, first of all, the open discussion about whether the House is willing to bear that cost from the taxpayers' purse.

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"And then, secondly, if the House does believe now is the time, then how can we go about doing that to ensure the very best value for taxpayers' money? I think that's incredibly important."

SNP Commons leader Pete Wishart asked Mrs Leadsom to "seriously think again" about the time available for the debate given the "huge" interest in the issue.