Housing Supply

I will not take any lectures from the hon. Gentleman, because in 2012-13 his Government built onl...

I was somewhat surprised by the intervention that the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr ...

The decent homes programme was one of the Labour Government’s proudest achievements. It transform...

I am glad that my hon. Friend mentions the impact on families in the private rented sector. As th...

In fact, academics have conducted interesting research showing that one driver of a child becomin...

Since we are talking about statistics, will the hon. Lady welcome the approximately 2,000 new hom...

When I was last in Crawley I saw the white elephant of the free school there, which was refurbish...

When the Work and Pensions Committee visited Bedfordshire in connection with its work on housing ...

My hon. Friend makes a significant point that I was about to come to. I am sure the Minister will...

In Northumberland, significant housing is being built on the former hospital sites at Stannington...

I do not accept that because the figures speak for themselves. We are not building even half the ...

We have one of the oldest district plans in the country partly because there was huge resistance ...

No, I am not suggesting that we go back to regional spatial strategies. We will not do what this ...

I welcome this debate and the motion is a step in the right direction. The hon. Lady must acknowl...

We are not calling for a lifting of the borrowing cap, but we think that councils and housing ass...

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I will make some progress because a number of right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the Ho...

I am pleased that my hon. Friend mentioned land banking. She must be aware that, particularly in ...

Land banking is a real problem. It is not just developers who are sitting on land, but middlemen,...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman.

It is clear that land banking is an issue. ...

Let me ask the hon. Lady about leadership in this business. Some 30% of local plans were approved...

Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman that interventions should be short. Speeches must come after t...

I thought the hon. Member for Meon Valley (George Hollingbery) was starting to deliver his speech...

The hon. Lady knows that I have a private Member’s Bill on the subject of affordable housing. In ...

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point and I know that this is a particular issue in his constit...

Over the last four years, the problem has been the failure to build affordable homes and social h...

I am delighted to say that in my hon. Friend’s constituency of Hammersmith and Fulham, we now hav...

I am listening with interest to the hon. Lady’s proposals, but will she outline what additional r...

I am not in the business of making spending commitments in this Opposition-day debate. All I woul...

It is a pleasure to stand here and have the opportunity to talk about a vital part our economy—th...

On a point of clarification, will the Minister explain the basis of the figures he has just provi...

What we do is add up all the numbers of houses that have been built; and more have been built sin...

Let me ask the question in a different way. The Minister’s predecessor said that the Government’s...

The hon. Gentleman raises a good point. We have gone through a massive crisis since 2007—I shall ...

If the Minister is really so keen to build genuinely affordable housing, why will the Government ...

It is clear that the hon. Lady’s party does not care about the economy of this country. It is qui...

Will the Minister explain why housing associations are being required not only to let newly built...

What is of key importance is for local authorities and housing associations to understand their s...

I wonder whether my hon. Friend recalls a visit that he made on 24 January to Claughton Manor Bri...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Not only were skills lost, not only were small and medium-siz...

Dawn frequently breaks to reveal the Prime Minister descending on a building site in wellington b...

The reason the Prime Minister appears on building sites is that he supports the housing industry,...

The Minister still has not explained why we have the lowest number of housing starts on record, a...

The reason house building is still a challenge is that the Government of which the hon. Gentleman...

Does the figure that the Minister has just given apply to the number of homes that will be in the...

The total Help to Buy figure, covering both guarantee and equity, is some 36,000. I was talking a...

Where does the Minister expect those new garden cities to be built?

Having put a prospectus out there, I am not going to declare that to you. The key thing is that w...

Order. We do not use the term “you” in that way. The Minister is not referring to me. I am sure t...

I apologise, Mr Deputy Speaker. The key is that where local authorities come forward, we will ent...

Does the Minister share my alarm about the words of Sir Michael Lyons on Labour’s review? The Min...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The last Government went around the country telling local peo...

I am interested in the Minister’s view that powers should be returned to local government. In tha...

I disagree with the point the hon. Gentleman makes. The key point is that there are lots of peopl...

Does the Minister have any interest in homes that are affordable on low and average incomes? In L...

I am not going to take any lectures about affordable or social housing. The last Government faile...

Will the Minister give way?

No, I am going to continue.

The key aim is to expand capacity, and one of the ways we are d...

I draw attention to my entry in the register of interests.

The Minister rightly mentions pr...

The key point is that Labour was in power for 13 years and did not address this, whereas we have ...

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Order. Before I call the next speaker, instead of imposing a time limit, may I suggest that Membe...

First, may I draw the House’s attention to my interests as declared in the register?

I have...

Before you do, I will just say that we are going to be courteous to each other. This is going to ...

I ask your leave to withdraw that last statement, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was really just saying tha...

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I will happily give way to the hon. Gentleman. I hope he will explain why his party has supported...

That is not the point I was going to make. I was going to ask whether the right hon. Gentleman wo...

Order. I have explained that interventions must be short. The hon. Gentleman has been here a long...

I did indeed. I say to the hon. Gentleman that given that output is currently averaging just 112,...

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And in the first quarter of 2014, the Government have started 5,900. Their own records show that,...

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Of course I give way.

Just to help, I think the right hon. Gentleman might be on silent meals if he does not give way q...

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way. Does he share my concern that the Minister is not he...

I am very grateful for that intervention, and I suspect I shall be in deep trouble tonight for my...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I give way to the hon. Lady.

I am not married to the right hon. Gentleman, so I thank him even more for giving way. Would he l...

I agree very much with that and I will cover it in the latter part of my speech. My thesis is tha...

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I give way to the hon. Lady.

Order. May I just be of help? The right hon. Gentleman has had eight minutes now and I am going t...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. This is a very pertinent point. I would like to tease out something...

Order. I am going to have to help. The hon. Lady was going to speak next. She will not mind going...

I am grateful for that, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I will now wind up because I have gone beyond my a...

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I cannot take any more interventions.

The Government are culpable for failing to provide th...

Suitably admonished, I shall keep my remarks brief to allow other colleagues to get in, Mr Deputy...

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I am not giving way because I listened to Mr Deputy Speaker’s guidance and I am keeping my remark...

We need to build 250,000 new homes every year, probably for the next 20 or 30 years, if we are to...

It is a pleasure to follow the considered speech of the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr ...

It sounds to me—I hope I have not misinterpreted the hon. Gentleman—as though there is an argumen...

Absolutely. I am not quite so obsessed with the issue of whether the property is owned by a counc...

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Time prevents me from taking another intervention from the hon. Gentleman. One of the unintended ...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George). I echo what he said about...

If I am following the hon. Gentleman’s logic correctly, he is arguing for scrapping the ability o...

I am asking for the viability assessments to become transparent, open documents, so that everyone...

It is appropriate that I should follow another London Member, the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr...

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman will address the point that the Minister would not deal with....

The hon. Gentleman will forgive me if I did not quite catch the whole point, but I think that my ...

I very much welcome this debate. The last two speakers have talked about their own constituencies...

Order. Perhaps I can help the hon. Lady. She might have tabled an amendment but it was not select...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I can assure you that I was not speaking to the amendment—perish th...

Order. The hon. Lady said that she had amended the motion, and the problem is that people might t...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I sought to amend the motion—devastatingly unsuccessfully —and I wi...

Listening to some of the speeches by Labour Members made me feel that they were in deep denial ab...

I am pleased that we are having yet another debate on housing, and I hope there will be many more...

I am rather puzzled by the hon. Gentleman’s comments about his constituency. Given the paucity of...

Uncharacteristically, the hon. Gentleman does not seem to have been listening very carefully. I d...

It is a pleasure, as ever, to follow the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), who mad...

The hon. Gentleman’s history is very interesting, but will he confirm that it was under the Wilso...

The hon. Lady is talking about 1968—the year of my birth. I agree that house building reached its...

My hon. Friend makes a good point about land banking. Is there not a huge difference between usin...

That leads on to my point. I have concerns about proposals that address non-existent problems. Th...

I start by making my usual declaration of an indirect interest, which relates to the entry in the...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) on securing a debate ...

And the Lords.

And the House of Lords. I will briefly mention the three things that I hope the Bill will do. Fir...

I am the tail-end Charlie again; that is the position that I like to have in these debates.