Greater London Authority Bill

The hon. Gentleman may be falling into the same error that he accused me of a few moments ago. Often what appears to be a like-for-like replacement involves a significant change to the type, quality or tenure of the accommodation being provided. We are all now familiar, because of their notoriety, with the way in which Conservative local authorities in London, in particular, have endeavoured over the years to build the minimum amount of social affordable housing, principally through the abuse of large developments, and we know what they have allowed large developers to get away with. Those developments may be wholly within one borough—some of those in outer London are very large constructs covering very large areas—but may nevertheless have a strategic impact across the whole of London. I am not arguing for a lower figure than 500, which seems in all ways appropriate.