MPs would be forced to swap the splendour of Westminster for the concrete cows and roundabouts of Milton Keynes under secret ‘evacuation’ plans.

They would have to move lock, stock and barrel up the M1 to the new town if an emergency temporarily put the Palace of Westminster and surrounding buildings out of action. The relocation scheme, secretly drawn up by officials, is separate from longer-term proposals to spend billions revamping the crumbling 19th century Commons.

A Westminster source said: ‘Whatever we finally decide on repairing the Palace, MPs and peers need a location now where we can carry on the business of Parliament if an emergency means we can’t use Westminster or any of the places around it.’

MPs would be forced to swap the splendour of Westminster for the concrete cows and roundabouts of Milton Keynes under secret ‘evacuation’ plans

Mark Lancaster, Tory MP for Milton Keynes North, said: ‘Everybody at Westminster would get to know what a wonderful place this is – at the centre of the UK, dynamic and representing 21st Century Britain’

He said Milton Keynes had all the space needed for ‘pop-up’ Commons and Lords’ Chambers, plus conference facilities and hotels and ‘great’ transport links from London. But the thought of quitting the ornate interior of the Commons for a town famous for its bovine sculptures is already dividing MPs.

London Labour MP Stephen Pound groaned: ‘Has it really come to this?’ But Mark Lancaster – Tory MP for Milton Keynes North – said: ‘Everybody at Westminster would get to know what a wonderful place this is – at the centre of the UK, dynamic and representing 21st Century Britain.’

The ‘Concrete Cows’ sculpture of three black and white cows and calves was created in 1978 but quickly turned into the new town’s unofficial symbol.

A spokesman for Parliament said it had ‘business resilience plans’ but for reasons of security would not comment on them.