The cost of the project has spiralled

But Tory leader David McLetchie argued that this was exactly what they were being urged to do.

And the Scottish National Party said a Scottish Executive minister should be appointed to the watchdog body made up of civil servants, experts and MSPs.

However, on Thursday members voted by 75 to 33, with 10 abstentions, to waive the �195m limit which they set last year and remove the price ceiling.

During the debate, Mr McNulty - a member of the Scottish Parliament corporate body which is in charge of the project - told the parliament of the reasons for the spiralling costs of the building.

He said inflation in Edinburgh's construction industry was now running at 16% and that, as a result, the money set aside for the project was "unlikely to be sufficient" to cover the final costs of the building.

It is our duty to construct a building that will be the hallmark of the Scottish Parliament

Des McNulty

He accepted that the final cost would be greater than originally estimated.

"In light of such an analysis, it is clear that a firm figure for the final out-turn cannot be made at this stage," he said.

"However, there is no question of a blank cheque, rather the efforts of the corporate body and the Holyrood Progress Group will be concentrated on reducing uncertainty."

He also stressed that the project was still on course to be completed by the end of December 2002.

And he said: "We are the first generation of people in the Scottish Parliament and it is our duty to construct a building that will be the hallmark of the Scottish Parliament."

The SNP's Mike Russell said the original decisions made in Westminster were fatally flawed and compounded by mis-information given to the public on a regular basis.

Mike Russell complained of flawed decisions

Moving an amendment to the main motion, he said: "We must once and for all get a grip on what is happening, demonstrate publicly that this project can be completed in a responsible and cost-effective manner."

Mr Russell said the executive was the "ultimate paymaster".

He said it should produce a new financial plan to treat the project as it would any other major capital project by seeking loans at government rates.

He also insisted it should appoint a minister to the progress group, and suggested that the minister for parliament, Tom McCabe, should nominate himself for the task.

Public services

Mr McLetchie insisted that MSPs were being asked to sign a blank cheque for the cost of the building and warned that there was a Holyrood "black hole".

He said: "It is obvious that public services will lose out to the Holyrood project.

"Every extra pound squandered on Holyrood is a pound less for our public services, for schools, hospitals and roads.

"We must not spend one penny more therefore, we must look at cutting costs,"

David McLetchie warned of a black hole

Mr McLetchie was speaking on an amendment insisting the project be completed within the spending cap of �195m agreed by MSPs in April 2000.

The meeting came the day after bitter exchanges over the appointment of a new project director at a special briefing for MSPs.

Conservative MSP Brian Monteith walked out of the session after failing to get an answer on why Alan Ezzi had resigned as project director.

Holyrood progress group members John Home Robertson, Jamie Stone and Linda Fabiani were subjected to a barrage of questions from critics of the project.

Mr Home Robertson said personnel matters were confidential - and that new director Sarah Davidson had the complete confidence of the design and construction teams.