I will do my best to stick to Madam Deputy Speaker’s injunction of an informal four-minute limit.
It was a pleasure to serve on the Bill Committee and to watch both Front-Bench teams in action. I welcome the Bill as an opportunity further to improve this Government’s record on house building. The right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey)
cited some statistics a few moments ago. I respectfully remind him that in his last year as Housing Minister, there were 125,000 starts across the United Kingdom, yet last year, under the current Secretary of State and Housing and Planning Minister, the figure had increased by 35% to 165,000 starts. This Government have a record they can be proud of.