Browse content similar to 15/12/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to BBC Parliament and live coverage from the House of | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
Parliament. -- House of Commons. There are two debates today tabled | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
by the Labour Party. One is on climate change and flooding and the | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
other will focus on the Government's record on housing. I will be here at | :00:24. | :00:30. | |
11pm this evening. First we have questions for the Secretary of State | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
for Business, Innovation and Skills. The first question is from the | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
Lincoln MP. Order, order. Questions to the | :00:38. | :00:54. | |
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. Good morning. | :00:55. | :01:04. | |
Mr Speaker, I am sure the House will want to join me in sending best | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
wishes to Tim Peake who has blasted towards space only 20 minutes ago. | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
We are reforming technical education and making clear written to | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
education and employment. We are spending ?2.5 billion on | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
apprenticeships and ?1.5 billion on adult skills. We are establishing | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
specialist colleges. I would like to join the Secretary of State. There | :01:32. | :01:39. | |
are a pulled or of opportunities. Does the Minister agree that | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
prioritising funding for young adults is the right thing to do for | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
a Conservative Government? I absolutely agree and I know that he | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
cares passionately about skills for young adults. We have prioritised | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
spending in further education in the recent spending review and this will | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
allow colleges, like Lincoln College, to offer more to young | :02:07. | :02:14. | |
people. Further education colleges are vital in engineering and | :02:15. | :02:22. | |
construction apprenticeships, where there is a shortage of skills across | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
the country. What assessment he has the Minister made in the cuts in | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
funding to further education colleges in delivering these much | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
needed agendas. I'm surprised he's talking about cuts in further | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
education spending. I know the party opposite was care among about that, | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
but we have protected the adult education budget and we are doubling | :02:46. | :02:47. | |
spending on apprenticeships and we have extended the availability of | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
loans. This taken together will mean that by 2020 there will be an | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
increase in further education spending 35% could better this year. | :02:59. | :03:07. | |
I welcome the removal of the cap on university places, but what | :03:08. | :03:09. | |
assessment has been made of the effect of the removal of that cap on | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
further education colleges, such as the one in my constituency, as they | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
are fishing from the same pool in terms of apprenticeships? I welcome | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
the question from my right honourable friend. There is an | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
increase in that and that's the kind of diversity and grow the B want to | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
see. It is smoke and mirrors with the Secretary of State because he | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
knows the Chancellor has announced an extra ?360 million of savings to | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
the adult skills budget. Will he come to the dispatch box and come | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
clean and tell us where the cuts will be made? I can tell the | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
Honourable Gentleman that there will be a skills funding letter issued by | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
my department that will answer some of the questions that he raises, but | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
he misses the point I made a moment ago. The adult education budget is | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
protected, we are doubling the spending on apprenticeships, and the | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
further education budget will be up by the end of this Parliament in | :04:21. | :04:28. | |
real terms. Mr Speaker, the Met office plays a key role in our | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
economy. The public weather service assessed that as delivering up to | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
?1.5 billion of annual value. I am a shareholder and I hope them to | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
account to ensure that they deliver value for money for the taxpayer. | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
The BBC reported in 2012 that in 11 of the previous 12 years predictions | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
about increases in temperature had been wrong and there had been a warm | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
bias. Should the Minister be asking some tough questions at the next | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
board meeting as to why we should be imposed on climate change policies | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
on businesses and householders when the predictions behind them often | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
prove to be an accurate? I like to ask difficult questions. In my | :05:13. | :05:20. | |
honourable friend own constituency the Met office plays a key role in | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
protecting property and lace. We should commend them and the work | :05:27. | :05:35. | |
that they do. Question number three. I cheer the exporter implementation | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
task force which is driving support for exports. In November, we | :05:41. | :05:47. | |
launched a five-year exporting is great campaign which promotes global | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
export opportunities to business. In November I hosted an event in my | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
constituency with the China -Britain business Council. I asked more | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
businesses to come to find out more with trading with China. It is | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
helping to organise 50 people organise similar events. How will | :06:06. | :06:14. | |
the Minister help small businesses expand into these markets? Can I | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
commend my honourable friend on her efforts to encourage businesses in | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
her constituency to export more to China. While exports to China have | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
doubles, there is a lot more potential. The recent visit by the | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
Chinese president helped to highlight that and the effort that | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
she is making is an example to us all. What steps has the Secretary of | :06:39. | :06:47. | |
State taken since the steel summits to increase trade opportunities for | :06:48. | :06:55. | |
the UK's steel industry? He makes an important point, the more that we | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
can exports of the higher value steel products, the more we can | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
help. We have been discussing this with steel producers and we are | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
coming up with a plan. They will feature in our trade meetings that | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
we have in due course. Next month I will be hosting an event to | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
encourage more local businesses to consider exporting. Can my right | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
honourable friend outline what the Government is doing to encourage new | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
businesses to export? I can talk of a number of initiatives. There is a | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
website, a road show that will be visiting constituencies, the work | :07:36. | :07:48. | |
that UK TIA are doing -- UKTI. There will also be a Midlands would show. | :07:49. | :07:58. | |
As part of the work of the exporter implementation group, will the | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
Secretary of State explore all options to access new markets for | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
all of our farm produce. Particularly in North America and | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
Southeast Asia. Absolutely. The honourable lady makes a good point. | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
This has been taken very seriously. One thing we have done recently is | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
to move some of the UKTI resources into the Secretary of State | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
department so there is better coordination. I was talking to a | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
senior Indian businessmen and asked him how we could increase trade with | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
India. He said there one thing we could do is leave the European | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
Union. With the Secretary of State, either as Secretary of State or | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
personally, endorse these comments? Last week I was speaking to a lot of | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
Indian businessmen and women and a lot of Indian students and there is | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
one area that we can certainly increase our exports to India and an | :09:04. | :09:10. | |
active education. -- increase our exports to India and that is in | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
education. The trade deficit is widening. Exports of goods, perhaps | :09:18. | :09:25. | |
he should listen to this, exports of goods from the UK actually fell last | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
month by ?700 million. It is a pity we cannot exports spin as the | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
Government is very good at that. What is his excuse for the | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
Government's dismal record on the trade deficit? The Honourable | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
Gentleman shouldn't do down our world-class exporters as they are | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
doing a fantastic job. They can exports wine to France, chocolate to | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
Belgium, boomerang is to stay earlier. I fear this is the same | :10:04. | :10:11. | |
boomerang that keeps coming back. Question number four, Mr Speaker. Mr | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
Speaker, we have given employers control over apprenticeships | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
standards and we require them all to last 12 months and involve | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
substantial of the job training. We will be setting up an independent | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
employer led Institute to improve standards and ensure quality in the | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
future. I thank the Minister for his response and I welcome the fact | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
there have been almost 1100 apprenticeships starting in the last | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
12 months and my constituency, but I know there are concerns from | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
business that there may be a focus on quantity and not quality. What | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
assurances can the Minister gave that that will not be the case. | :10:51. | :11:00. | |
There is no tension between quality and quantity. We want better quality | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
because they're more employers will offer apprenticeships, like BMW, and | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
I welcome the high-quality apprenticeships that they are | :11:11. | :11:17. | |
creating. The Minister will know that Ofsted have said | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
apprenticeships are not good enough. A lot of people in industry believe | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
that the only way the 3 million target will be hit will be by | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
reducing quality further. What reassurance can he provide? | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
Ofsted has highlighted a practice which was familiar to all of ours | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
for a long time and has inspired the reforms we are putting in place to | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
replace all apprenticeships with the standards agreed by employers that | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
have two last at least 12 months and at least 25% of the job training. We | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
are ensuring that we will have increased quality at all levels. | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
Where I disagree is in the suggestion that a level to | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
scholarship is not high-quality. Existing level to apprenticeships | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
increase incomes on average by 11% three to five years later. There | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
were 970 new starts in my constituency last year, many in | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
engineering and technology. Will he join me by congratulating those | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
apprenticeship is and does he agree that it shows our commitment to | :12:36. | :12:43. | |
apprenticeships of high quality? It is a stunning achievement in his | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
constituency and I know that it is in large part due to the excellent | :12:48. | :12:58. | |
Pro Pat which is one of the first institutions to have become a | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
college in a long time. I would be happy to revisit it any time. Can I | :13:04. | :13:14. | |
suggest that he finds way to harness the power of trade unions in this | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
area? A very interesting suggestion. The honourable gentleman will know | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
that I greatly value the work the trade unions do in encouraging | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
employees to take up training opportunities and it is why we | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
continue to fund Union Learn In That Direction. Snap on is a major | :13:37. | :13:48. | |
manufacturer of tools and its UK headquarters is in Kettering, | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
because they are looking to increase investment in apprenticeships, would | :13:54. | :14:02. | |
he accent my -- accent my invitation to come and open the institution | :14:03. | :14:10. | |
next month. If the whips allowed me, I will be there. My department is | :14:11. | :14:24. | |
leading cross Parliament work on apprentices. The UK export hub will | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
travel around the country to give assistance face-to-face to | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
exporters. Feedback from business in my constituency suggests that there | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
needs to be more support for SMEs exporting less than half ?1 million | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
worth of goods and once given support it is complicated by red | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
tape. How would he minister responded to those businesses? I | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
agree that we should always look to do more to help SMEs export more. He | :14:55. | :15:03. | |
may know that we recently had a regional trade mission, the Northern | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
Powerhouse trade mission, which I lead, to the Far East. It included | :15:07. | :15:24. | |
companies from his constituency. The airline has exported luxury boats | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
across the world but we have heard news of redundancies. Many of the | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
employees are currently on lay-offs periods and reduced pay. Would he do | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
what he can to make sure redundancy payments are expedited, particularly | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
with Christmas around the corner. It is a difficult time and I will look | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
into that with discussions to find a potential buyer. Does the government | :15:55. | :16:01. | |
foresee difficulties long-term with the transatlantic trade agreement | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
with the United States. Especially with regard to exporting to the | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
United Kingdom agricultural food products. Discussions are still | :16:12. | :16:19. | |
going on. It is by its very nation complicated. Agri- products need | :16:20. | :16:28. | |
carefully looking at. Once the dealers done, it could be worth ?400 | :16:29. | :16:36. | |
to every household in the UK. In my former career, I exported | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
broadcasting equipment to 48 countries worldwide, no thanks to | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
the EU and their regulations. Really, you need to have ten three X | :16:46. | :16:59. | |
chutzpah to export. How can we go about getting more of that? Wenping | :17:00. | :17:09. | |
can be sure of is that the honourable gentleman has plenty of | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
chutzpah and I'm he will deliver more of that. We want all Company to | :17:17. | :17:25. | |
do everything they can. The government's so-called support for | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
exports has seen grants converted to loans and the sudden closure of the | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
business growth service. Businesses supported by it grew four times | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
faster than other businesses. The scheme created 83,000 jobs and | :17:39. | :17:45. | |
netted over 3.5 billion to the National economy. As one mentors | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
said, the closure doesn't make sense considering its huge success and may | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
prove detrimental to Britain's economic help. What message does the | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
closure send to businesses that want to grow and given the outstanding | :18:02. | :18:18. | |
record of success it to show and -- doesn't it show the government | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
attitude to export. There was little evidence that it was the best way to | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
help those businesses which is to make sure we have a continuing the | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
growing economy, faster than our rivals, so we can support the | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
long-term economic plan. We are providing 39 LEPs with funding | :18:41. | :18:51. | |
through growth hubs. Employers with a payroll bill of over ?3 million | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
per year will be required to pay the apprenticeship levy which will raise | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
?3 billion to support apprenticeship training throughout Scotland. We | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
hope that the apprenticeship levy will provide opportunities for young | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
people south of the border, as well as the 25,000 who started an | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
apprenticeship in Scotland this year. Is he aware of the Association | :19:20. | :19:29. | |
of learning providers concerns that the money raised by the levy is | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
likely to be less than was previously thought? I'm delighted | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
that he is proud of the 25,000 modern apprenticeship starts in | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
Scotland. We are proud of the half a million stats that we have had in | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
the last year in England. It would suggest that we can both take pride | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
in our commitment to apprenticeships. I hope we will | :19:54. | :19:55. | |
welcome the fact that the apprenticeship levy will be | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
generating resources that will impart the sent to Scotland. The oil | :20:03. | :20:10. | |
and gas industry faces distinct challenges at present. I know that | :20:11. | :20:19. | |
this levy May represent a significant challenge to those | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
businesses. It represents an additional cost at a time when | :20:25. | :20:27. | |
controlling cost is of paramount importance. Will he meet a | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
delegation from the industry to hear their concerns and how they can take | :20:34. | :20:46. | |
advantage of these circumstances? I will ask them what they think of her | :20:47. | :20:57. | |
party's plans for Scotland which rested on an oil price of ?100 per | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
barrel. It would currently find themselves linked to the IMF. We are | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
protecting funding for adult education at 1.5 billion per year in | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
cash terms. We are extending advance loans to adult learners and | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
increasing spending on adult apprenticeships to ?1.5 million by | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
2020. This means that the total funding for adult skills training | :21:26. | :21:32. | |
will be 36% higher in the last year of this parliament man in the first. | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
Salford city College is one of over 100 colleges who have protested at | :21:40. | :21:47. | |
real year-on-year funding cuts. A mounting now to 40%. Despite this | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
promise not to cut adult skills from FC colleges Treasury documents now | :21:54. | :22:01. | |
say that there will be ?360 billion worth of savings and efficiencies. | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
Can the Minister tell others how this can be achieved? Her college | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
like many others wrote to the Prime Minister before the spending review | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
and in response to the flag-waving before from the opposition who | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
predicted a 25-40% cut in the adult skills budget. If the honourable | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
lady had taken the trouble to attend the spending review she would have | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
heard that actually he is protecting it in cash terms while increasing | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
the funding for apprenticeships which colleges could bid for. If she | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
spoke to her college, she would discover that they are pleasantly | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
surprised by the funding settlement. Any credible long-term economic plan | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
would recognise the critical importance of adult reskilling but | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
this government has systematically cut adult skills by 40% since 2010 | :23:00. | :23:07. | |
including a 24% cut in February of non-printed ship funding. That is | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
probably why the Chancellor. About making any reference to the further | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
cuts in the Autumn leaving it in his blue book to talk about saving | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
through efficiencies. Will the Minister say precisely what the ?1.5 | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
billion he talks off of core funding is made up of? Does it include over | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
25 you rolled Lowes, 50% of which won't be taken up? Aisling -- | :23:38. | :23:51. | |
25-year-old loans. I am earning my salary today. We have launched a | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
process to consider every area's skills needs. And how we can best | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
meet them. The Kent review is due to start in 2016. I welcome the review | :24:06. | :24:13. | |
and I would like to point out that Sittingbourne, the largest town in | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
Kent is without its own further education college. We have an | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
opportunity to change that situation and I invite the Minister to visit | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
the skills Centre in my constituency to learn how it could be easily and | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
cheaply X banded into a small college. I have had a message from | :24:36. | :24:43. | |
the whips saying that they would only be too delighted to allow me to | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
visit more constituencies. Of course, we don't hear from the | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
opposition celebrating when new institutions are setup, including | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
the Swale skills Centre which has been set up by a very successful | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
academies trust which is already doing a great job of running local | :25:02. | :25:10. | |
schools. I consulted on the proposal to free student loan repayment | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
threshold and received responses from interested parties. I have | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
decided to proceed with the freezing of the threshold. Does the Secretary | :25:21. | :25:28. | |
of State agree that if if a commercial company had made a | :25:29. | :25:30. | |
retrospective change to a contract in this way, costing students ?6,000 | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
in the process, there would likely be an investigation? Does he accept | :25:37. | :25:44. | |
that in doing so he has breached the trust of former, current and future | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
students? I accept that these were the right set of changes. I | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
considered the responses carefully. It is important to strike the right | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
balance between students having the ability and opportunity to go to | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
university and the interests of the taxpayer, making sure we have an | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
affordable and sustainable funding process. Can the Secretary of State | :26:10. | :26:16. | |
confirmed despite negative, it is opposite that record levels of young | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
people secure places at university, including from disadvantaged | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
backgrounds? My honourable friend is absolutely right. That is true of | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
England. We have seen a record increase to 382,000 people in the | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
last year and the number of disadvantaged students has gone up | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
from 9.5% to 18.2%. In Scotland we have seen a fall because they don't | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
have a funding system that allows everyone to go to university who | :26:50. | :26:50. | |
wants to to do so. Given the report in the Independent | :26:51. | :27:00. | |
that Cabinet ministers are tried to find a way to increase the cap on | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
tuition fee without a proper vote in the House, can the Secretary of | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
State confirm that any attempt to increase the cap on two agencies | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
will come back to the House for a debate and a belt and can you | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
confirm that Government proposals in the Autumn Statement to extend | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
tuition fees to nurses, midwives and health subjects will also be subject | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
to a proper debate and vote in the House? If the Government does decide | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
to change the cap on tuition fee there will be a debate in the House. | :27:32. | :27:39. | |
Robbie Secretary of State agree that retrospectively changing the terms | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
of the contract is mis-selling? And will he guarantee that in this | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
Parliament there will be no further changes to thresholds or interest | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
rates? The changes in question are lawful, that is the advice that I | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
have received. It is consistent with the games. Honourable members should | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
remember that the loans that are provided are on better terms than | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
what is available commercially and it allows all those who want to go | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
to university to have the ability to do so. Question number ten, Mr | :28:15. | :28:23. | |
Speaker. Could I am so this question and question 14 together. I was | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
delighted that in the spending review the Government committed an | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
extra ?900 million for aerospace research and development, meaning | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
that Government will invest nearly ?2 billion on aerospace research | :28:39. | :28:47. | |
over 13 years to 2025 and 2026. This will mean that our world leading | :28:48. | :28:51. | |
aerospace industry can stay at the forefront and capitalise on the | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
estimated ?3.6 trillion market for new aircraft that will be needed in | :28:59. | :29:05. | |
the next 20 years. I recently met the trade union representatives for | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
two sites in my constituency. They welcome the contingency of support | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
for the aerospace industry, but they remain concerned about the | :29:17. | :29:19. | |
outsourcing of high-value engineering jobs to low-cost | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
countries. What more can my honourable friend do to address this | :29:24. | :29:29. | |
concern? I'm happy to meet with the Honourable Gentleman to discuss | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
these concerns and I should say that Rolls-Royce and beer was this sector | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
is a major contributor to the economy in the United Kingdom so we | :29:38. | :29:40. | |
understand how important it is and that is why we have protected and | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
extended the investment that we are making in research and development. | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
The recent announcement of the expansion of the year will help | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
enterprise zone in Cornwall has been welcomed in Cornwall. -- the | :29:55. | :30:03. | |
aerospace enterprise zone. This is Cromwell and opportunity to be | :30:04. | :30:11. | |
awarded the aerospace... He will continue to make that case because a | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
number of airports are in the running and we aim to launch the | :30:15. | :30:17. | |
selection process next year. The United Kingdom space sector, we have | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
heard there is great news about the launch today, with Tim Peake going | :30:24. | :30:30. | |
into space. Ground control can report that the UK space sector has | :30:31. | :30:40. | |
almost doubled, ?11.8 billion. It is most unfortunate that the honourable | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
members opposite are now singing and it is not good. I hope that they | :30:44. | :30:50. | |
might cheer at these facts, ?11.8 billion in just seven years. | :30:51. | :30:58. | |
Employing 37,000 people. Send but no member of this House can match David | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
Bowie. That is relevant as far as ground control is concerned. | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
Rolls-Royce 's strategic importance to our aerospace industry, not just | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
in my constituency but also in Sheffield in Bristol. Can I ask | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
Minister what the Government is prepared to do to safeguard that | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
capacity, which we know is increasingly in the news at the | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
moment, to ensure and safeguard the future of the industry, making sure | :31:31. | :31:36. | |
that the UK stays at the forefront of it was this manufacturing. We | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
should mention the importance of Rolls-Royce to a city like Derby. We | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
are monitoring the situation carefully. We recognise the | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
importance that Rolls-Royce placed to our economy and it is important | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
that we do not talk things down. There is a tendency on the opposite | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
side to talk things down and it is important that we do not do that and | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
we continue to support Rolls-Royce. In order to stop Rolls-Royce falling | :32:08. | :32:14. | |
into the hands of the Chinese, why does this Government not take | :32:15. | :32:17. | |
Rolls-Royce back into public ownership? I know the Honourable | :32:18. | :32:25. | |
Gentleman will have trouble understanding this, but it is 2015 | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
and we're not back in the 1960s and the dark days of the 1970s and we | :32:30. | :32:35. | |
know we have a long-term economic plan that actually delivers, unlike | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
his plan which is a disaster for our country. As we have heard from our | :32:40. | :32:47. | |
honourable friends, we have been watching the recent developments in | :32:48. | :32:50. | |
relation to Rolls-Royce very closely, not only because of the | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
implications for security, but because it is the biggest employer | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
for Britain's it was space sector. As we have heard from the Minister, | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
the global air crash market is going to be worth considerable money in | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
the next 20 years we welcome the investment in the game technology | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
Institute. But is it not time that the Secretary of State developed an | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
industrial strategy rather than continuing with this piecemeal | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
approach? I am not going to repeat everything I have said about | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
continuing investment. ?900 million of taxpayers' money going into | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
aerospace. We recognise its significance and it is easy to put | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
labels on it. It doesn't matter what labelled you put on it, it is about | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
delivery and that is what we are doing. As my right honourable friend | :33:44. | :33:51. | |
the Chancellor demonstrated, the Government puts investment as a top | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
priority in our long-term economic plan. I'm delighted at the | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
announcement that the science budget will be ring fenced. In addition, | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
the Prime Minister has recently announced a 50% increase in our | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
funding of climate finance and we have just announced ?60 million into | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
the energy research accelerator. Launching an investment coalition in | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
Paris at the weekend made the point that if we are to avoid global | :34:22. | :34:28. | |
warming we need to develop new renewable energy technology. To | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
ensure that the UK places part, what progress has the Minister made to | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
make sure that the green funds receives the money it needs an its | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
green mandate. I'm sure the Honourable Gentleman will announce | :34:44. | :34:50. | |
Scott back well, the Prime Minister's announcement that he will | :34:51. | :35:00. | |
be supporting the industry. It turns over ?45 billion for the British | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
economy and 4.8 billion of exports. By allowing the bank to raise money | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
we will generate more money for the green economy which is going in this | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
Government like never before. The North Sea oil and gas sector faces | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
significant challenges that the current time, with a need for a | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
collegiate approach to research and development to fuel innovation and | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
to drive down costs. Will the Minister consider setting up a North | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
Sea oil and gas innovation Centre, similar to the successful offshore | :35:34. | :35:43. | |
wind catapult. On the East Coast and in Scotland this country is leading | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
in this field of offshore energy. We have just funded the offshore energy | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
Centre and I would be happy to look at the specific idea that he | :35:54. | :36:01. | |
recommends. It is extremely disappointing, a missed opportunity, | :36:02. | :36:04. | |
damaging and a disgrace. These were the words and phrases used to | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
describe this Government's decision to withdraw ?1 billion of funding | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
from carbon capture and storage. Hundreds of jobs from the amenities | :36:14. | :36:16. | |
in the north-east of Scotland and the opportunity to be at the | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
forefront of low carbon innovation is now lost. The Government will | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
instead spend hundreds of millions of pounds of subsidising research | :36:24. | :36:25. | |
into the Government will instead spend hundreds of millions of pounds | :36:26. | :36:27. | |
of subsidising research into Nicola energy. In light of this decision, | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
with the Minister like to take the opportunity to explain to the people | :36:31. | :36:33. | |
of Peterhead and the north-east and he has supported them to be world | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
leaders and innovation? It is a pleasure to follow that speech. I | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
will happily repeat the figure that I just gave you. The Prime Minister | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
has announced ?400 billion of extra funding for energy finance. We have | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
made announcements and you show researching I did make the point | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
that one of the lessons for Scotland is to reduce its dependency on | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
public sector funding. 20% of the funding went to Scotland, that is | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
?560 million, when only represents 10% of bill payers. We need to | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
support the green economy in Scotland as we are in the rest of | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
the country. The Minister will be aware that a major investment was | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
announcing the spending review of ?250 million for a small modular | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
reactors, something that has now welcomed in the north-western will | :37:26. | :37:27. | |
make a big difference to our ability to meet our climate change targets. | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
What is crucial as a result of this is that the UK owns the IPI that | :37:32. | :37:40. | |
comes out of this. But he make sure this is the case? My honourable | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
friend is an expert in this matter and I were looking to the point that | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
he makes. Our support for the green economy is now ?45 billion sector in | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
this country and we are generating the technologies that are leading | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
into 21st-century green energy and look into the points that he makes. | :38:01. | :38:07. | |
The enterprise bill which is going through the other place will create | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
a small business Commissioner and one of their import rules will be to | :38:12. | :38:14. | |
make sure that this continuing problem with late payment is brought | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
to an end. We have other measures on hand to make sure that there is | :38:20. | :38:22. | |
reporting, but we're making good progress on this. Cheltenham's | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
superb small shops and businesses rely some people getting out from | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
behind their computers and visiting local shops. In those circumstances, | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
those are my honourable friend agree that the local authority should | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
provide flexible and cheap parking to support small businesses and | :38:44. | :38:51. | |
shopping? I am afraid I am a little bit of message. I take a radical | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
approach to parking. I would take the view that there should be no | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
parking charges in any towns. The car parks belonged to the people. | :39:01. | :39:09. | |
There are times when the local authority does want to put in car | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
parking charges. A good example is in one area where there used to make | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
sure people do not abuse them. But as much as possible we should be | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
supporting town centres and small businesses, so we should not be | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
charging people to park in their own home town. Mr Speaker, in the spirit | :39:27. | :39:36. | |
of Christmas, can I invite the whole ministerial team to come to | :39:37. | :39:39. | |
Huddersfield where they can learn about spinning and weaving and I can | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
arrange for them to have a wonderful city made like this one I am | :39:46. | :39:54. | |
wearing. -- a wonderful suit. They have a textile centre for excellence | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
and a top about the pressure of small businesses. The Government | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
wants to take us out of Europe and to stop us from being able to export | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
to the rest of the world. It was going so well and I was going to be | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
a Christmas fairy. Everyone knows my views on the European Union and the | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
views of the Prime Minister. We want to stay in a reformed European | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
Union. In the spirit of Christmas, I would be delighted to go to | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
Huddersfield. I could talk about my family's relationship of | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
Huddersfield. I will go to Huddersfield at the Honourable | :40:33. | :40:34. | |
Gentleman will come to my constituency. -- if the Honourable | :40:35. | :40:43. | |
Gentleman. And alighted to tell you that I talk about cyber Brazilians a | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
lot with the Minister. They were saying how pleased they were to see | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
the Chancellor's announcement doubling the budget for cyber | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
security to almost ?2 billion. I'm delighted that the Minister has | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
doubled the budget, only 10% was on consumers, the police force, or | :41:04. | :41:06. | |
small businesses. What is he is doing to encourage small businesses | :41:07. | :41:13. | |
that are not able to commit huge amount of time to engaging with | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
this? What is he is going to do for businesses to insure that they are | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
safe online? I did not double the budget, it was the Chancellor. It is | :41:25. | :41:31. | |
important to give him credit. I take the point very seriously. We do have | :41:32. | :41:38. | |
a fantastic scheme, which allows small businesses and large | :41:39. | :41:41. | |
businesses to get a certificate to show that they had been through a | :41:42. | :41:44. | |
process to increase their cyber security. | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
In the government is working hard to deliver our productivity plan. We | :41:50. | :42:02. | |
will promote a dynamic economy. Productivity has been the Achilles | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
heel of this government's economic policy. Comparisons against G-7 | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
countries are poor and even works when compared with small and | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
medium-sized independent countries. This government has been obsessed | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
with austerity cuts and ignored innovation and efficiency. The | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
fairer way to decrease the deficit. It is absolutely not the case. This | :42:32. | :42:38. | |
has been a long-running issue in our country under successive | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
governments. That is why we had an ambitious productivity plan and we | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
have seen a 1.3% increase in output per hour which is very encouraging. | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
After five years in charge it is time the government took | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
responsibility. Why has productivity been stalled for the last five | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
years? After 13 years in charge by the party opposite, we had the | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
biggest recession we had seen in 100 years. It takes time to recover from | :43:09. | :43:19. | |
that. Productivity is on the rise. It's nice to be back. We have a very | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
competitive broadband market and I went to York the other day to see | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
TalkTalk premises. They are investing billions in fibre. This | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
Friday I will be going to another company who deliver broadband to | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
Epping Forest. We have a very competitive market. Ofcom have | :43:45. | :43:52. | |
confirmed that Hall is the only city in the country without competition | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
and is in the worst 20 areas for super fast broadband access which | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
really effects small businesses in Hull. How much of the money the | :44:03. | :44:13. | |
government has invested will be allocated to Hull? Hull has this | :44:14. | :44:23. | |
effectively municipal provider, Kingston Communications, and I'm | :44:24. | :44:32. | |
pleased to say that they are investing in broadband for the whole | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
of Hull without need of government investment. The recent spending | :44:37. | :44:43. | |
review delivered a strong settlement for many departmental sectors | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
focusing on areas which drive up productivity. In the last our major | :44:48. | :44:54. | |
Tim Peake has blasted into orbit. The government has launched its | :44:55. | :45:01. | |
space project. This policy document shows there is no limit to the UK | :45:02. | :45:08. | |
omission in this area. We want to boldly go to infinity and beyond and | :45:09. | :45:18. | |
our new policy will make it so. As everyone knows, to improve | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
productivity, you need a good, strong education system. Can the | :45:22. | :45:28. | |
Minister give a categorical assurance that further education | :45:29. | :45:31. | |
institutions such as Blackburn College in my constituency will not | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
receive a real terms funding cut as a result of the freeze in adult | :45:38. | :45:46. | |
education funding? I agree about the need to boost skills. There will be | :45:47. | :45:54. | |
areas in review so I cannot make a promise about particular | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
institutions. But there will be an increase in real terms in F funding | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
of more than 35% over the length of the parliament. I'm sure that is | :46:04. | :46:13. | |
something she would welcome. The Eden Project in my constituency has | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
been running a successful apprenticeship programme in | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
horticulture. It is going to become more and more important to meet our | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
increasing demand for food. What support can the Minister provides to | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
promote horticulture as an important career for young people? Under the | :46:32. | :46:38. | |
agri- tech strategy we are supporting horticulture and I | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
recently opened a horticultural waste production facility. We are | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
leading an low-energy farming systems and novel use of pesticides | :46:49. | :47:02. | |
to avoid -- use of pets to avoid pesticide and hydroponics. May I | :47:03. | :47:12. | |
offer my congratulations to Tim Peake on his visit to the | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
International Space Station. Can I also paid tribute to Helen Sharman, | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
the first British person into space. Let's do our best to inspire the | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
next generation of scientists, mathematicians and explorers in the | :47:28. | :47:34. | |
same way that the Muniain -- moon landings inspired my generations. | :47:35. | :47:40. | |
Millions of jobs are linked to the European union and most believe it | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
is in the interests of the country to remain a member. But yesterday, | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
the member for Shropshire described negotiations as froth and nonsense | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
and his endless renegotiations have been described as a shambles. Does | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
the Secretary of State agree with UK business of the Eurosceptics on his | :48:04. | :48:11. | |
own side? If I may associate myself with the comments made about Tim | :48:12. | :48:16. | |
Peake and is inspiration to us all. Turning to her comments about the | :48:17. | :48:22. | |
EU, I agree with almost all businesses that they want to see | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
reform and changes in our relationship with the. They want to | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
be more competitive, easier to make deals in a deeper single market with | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
less bureaucracy. That is what we're fighting for. We all want to see the | :48:39. | :48:48. | |
UK remain in a reformed European union, but the Secretary of State's | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
Eurosceptic interests are well known and it is not like him to be shy | :48:54. | :48:59. | |
about them. Is he prepared to resign from the Cabinet to fight for a | :49:00. | :49:09. | |
British exit from the European Union? When it comes to | :49:10. | :49:16. | |
resignations, it is her party she should be worried about. I am | :49:17. | :49:29. | |
prepared for fighting for the renegotiations I outlined. With the | :49:30. | :49:39. | |
Secretary of State join me in encouraging as many businesses as | :49:40. | :49:42. | |
possible across Worcestershire to apply for the first round deadline | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
for extra funding this Friday? In the short time that the honourable | :49:50. | :49:52. | |
member has been a member of Parliament he has done a lot to | :49:53. | :49:56. | |
champion small businesses in Worcestershire. I have seen that | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
myself first-hand. The Worcestershire growth fund is an | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
excellent opportunity and I encourage companies in his | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
constituency and mine to apply. The illegal moneylending team has | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
commenced 330 prosecutions against illegal loan sharks and has had a | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
?60 million written off for the most vulnerable in our communities. To | :50:21. | :50:26. | |
cut its budget may not have come across his desk but he has had | :50:27. | :50:34. | |
plenty of time to consider it and why does he continue to dodge | :50:35. | :50:40. | |
questions about this cut? If the honourable member had attended Prime | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
Minister's Questions he would have heard the honourable members say | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
that he's looking at introducing a levy to continue this action against | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
loan sharks will stop that is the Treasury to take forward and he will | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
ask the Treasury for further details about it. A few days ago, I met the | :50:59. | :51:07. | |
new cohort of inspirational students from the petrol College Care Academy | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
which is providing apprenticeships at the local health care trust. Does | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
he agree this is a really important programme for training the next | :51:20. | :51:21. | |
generation of health care professionals locally? Absolutely. | :51:22. | :51:28. | |
Thank you for raising it. The Academy is doing great work in | :51:29. | :51:36. | |
developing 18 week placement courses to discover interesting careers in | :51:37. | :51:39. | |
the health and care sector, supporting the local economy and our | :51:40. | :51:46. | |
national skills base is the a number of organisations including | :51:47. | :51:48. | |
electrical safety first have welcomed the product safety review | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
conducted ID Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
headed by Lynn Faulds Wood. We must increase traceability to protect | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
customers in the UK. When will the review be published? I've met Lynn | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
Faulds Wood and I absolutely tanked and commend her for the work done. | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
I'm having a further meeting with her to see when we can actually | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
publish the review and make the sort of progress we all want. With the | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
Secretary of State update the house on the objective for his recent | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
visit to India and how best local businesses in my constituency can | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
tap into that market? The recent visit was to build momentum | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
generated by the recent visit of the Prime Minister of India. I went with | :52:44. | :52:51. | |
the science minister to promote getting more Indian students to come | :52:52. | :52:59. | |
to the UK to study. I took to members of the delegation from | :53:00. | :53:02. | |
Dorset and it is just the sort of innovation we want to see. The | :53:03. | :53:12. | |
forecast for overall growth has been downgraded, the gap between exports | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
has grown to 4.1 billion in October, can the Secretary of State update | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
the house on the measures taken to increase exports given that his | :53:25. | :53:27. | |
current measures are clearly not working. We have seen exports grow | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
over the last five years, including to some of the fastest-growing | :53:34. | :53:36. | |
markets around the world like China and India. We obviously need to do | :53:37. | :53:44. | |
more and that is why we have had a number of measures mentioned | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
earlier. It is this increase in exports that is leading to falls in | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
unemployment across the country and generating jobs, including a decline | :53:52. | :54:01. | |
in claimants in her constituency. We are aware of the value of science | :54:02. | :54:07. | |
funding well spent. Will the Business Secretary reassured the | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
house that the fund for this will be ring fenced and will he appeared | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
before the committee in January to go over this in detail? I accept the | :54:18. | :54:25. | |
invitation. Also, I take this opportunity to commend the | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
honourable lady for the way she has led the committee. The ring fence I | :54:30. | :54:38. | |
can confirm is protected in real terms, not just cash terms and also | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
our commitment to spend 6.9 billion on science infrastructure over the | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
next eight years. I'm sure she will agree, this Christmas, batteries are | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
included. I have previously raised the industrial carbon capture | :54:56. | :55:03. | |
storage targets which will contribute to the climate change | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
agenda and capital investment. Will he agree with me that we need to | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
explore how we might bring to fruition this important project? I | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
am more than happy to have a meeting with him. He knows not to shout at | :55:20. | :55:29. | |
me. I hope he will also join with me to congratulate the Secretary of | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
State for environment and climate change for her outstanding | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
achievement on behalf of our nation in playing an important role in | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
securing this important way forward to make sure that the planet we | :55:43. | :55:46. | |
leave for our children is better than the one we inherited. Carlisle | :55:47. | :55:54. | |
and Cumbria has experienced devastating floods recently. As part | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
of recovery, it is important to restore confidence as quickly as | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
possible in the business community. Would the Minister confirm that they | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
will do everything to support Cumbrian businesses and make sure | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
that people are aware that Carlisle and Cumbria are open for business? | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
Indeed. Could I pay to view to all members of Parliament for the great | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
work they have done. I am got there to visit next week. I want to go to | :56:23. | :56:31. | |
Carlisle, Cockermouth, and Kendall. I am delighted that we have secured | :56:32. | :56:40. | |
funding for all businesses affected by the flooding which I think will | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
make a huge improvement and we have done that quickly and will make it | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
available in time for Christmas to get all those businesses and jobs | :56:49. | :56:50. | |
open for business. The Secretary of State has spoken | :56:51. | :56:59. | |
about simplifying and clarifying the business environment, identifying | :57:00. | :57:06. | |
?10 billion of reduction in red tape during this Parliament. So why did | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
the Autumn Statement said that small businesses should file tax returns | :57:11. | :57:13. | |
for times a year rather than annually? How does that help small | :57:14. | :57:16. | |
businesses to reduce the cost and burdens -- I have a bad feeling | :57:17. | :57:24. | |
about this. I have not heard that quote from Star Wars. It is very | :57:25. | :57:33. | |
important that we keep deregulating the environment for small businesses | :57:34. | :57:36. | |
and that was achieved in the last Parliament. The Honourable Gentleman | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
does know this, it is INET target and I'm confident because of the | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
enterprise bill that we will see huge net the regulation during the | :57:48. | :57:53. | |
lifetime of this Parliament. -- it is a net target. We had some | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
discussion this week about industrial strategy, which seems to | :58:00. | :58:02. | |
mean all kinds of things to different people. I don't know what | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
it means, but if I did I would be against it. Can the Minister please | :58:09. | :58:11. | |
advise that while he is Secretary of State the Government will not go | :58:12. | :58:22. | |
about... The Government believes in free enterprise and that has | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
motivated the economy for decades. We do have a plan and a strategy, a | :58:28. | :58:34. | |
long-term economic plan. I'm sure the space Minister Bo praised the | :58:35. | :58:37. | |
last Labour Government to establish the UK space agency and given that | :58:38. | :58:44. | |
Tim Peake's and credible mission is launching today. She should say a | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
little bit about what she will do to spread the motivation from that to a | :58:49. | :58:57. | |
new generation of astronauts. I did say seven years, because as you know | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
I am not prone to partition chip -- to being partisan. I wish the | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
members opposite would do the same. I do notice that our announcement | :59:09. | :59:18. | |
about areas of huge progress to help industries like the steel industry, | :59:19. | :59:24. | |
no one mentions it now and says how good it is. The real trick now, and | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
the honourable lady also mentioned this, it is important that we | :59:32. | :59:34. | |
inspire the younger generation, boys and girls, into the future of this | :59:35. | :59:42. | |
kind of career, especially in engineering. With the Minister of | :59:43. | :59:51. | |
the House about the life science classes as a way to stimulate | :59:52. | :59:55. | |
start-ups, excellence and growth in the sector and of any plans for | :59:56. | :00:04. | |
using devolution city deals for such clusters. My honourable friend makes | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
an important point. Around the country, in the Scottish belts and | :00:11. | :00:17. | |
elsewhere, we are building clusters of excellence and growth for the | :00:18. | :00:19. | |
benefit of our citizens. I'm discussing this with the Chancellor | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
and the Department for Communities and Local Government about how the | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
devolution package could write in support greater development of those | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
health clusters around the country. You talked about research and | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
development in the aerospace industry. In my constituency, 6500 | :00:38. | :00:47. | |
are employed in this area. Could he indicate what discussions he's had | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
with the Northern Ireland assembly to ensure that we are part of that | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
research and development? I have not had those discussions but I'm happy | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
to have them with the Honourable Gentleman. My door is always open. I | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
recognise the huge importance that it plays in his constituency and in | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Northern Ireland. We must now move on. We come to the ten minute rule | :01:11. | :01:21. | |
motion. Point of order. The day with not be complete without a point of | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
order from the Honourable Gentleman. I wonder if you can help me. When an | :01:27. | :01:38. | |
MP being obstructed from doing their work. They are restricting my travel | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
movements. Is there anyone Independent I can deal with to get | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
beyond this institution? I'm wasting a lot of time and effort dealing | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
with it that and getting absolutely nowhere. -- IPSA. The Honourable | :01:52. | :02:02. | |
Gentleman might be aware of for an informal grouping within Parliament, | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
including the member for Gainsborough, to whom you can make | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
representations about the situation that he faces. I hope he understands | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
that is not something that I can deal with in the Chamber just now. | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
No follow-up would normally be required, but the Honourable | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
Gentleman is champing at the bit and I will give him a last chance. I was | :02:28. | :02:37. | |
on that Committee and I was not aware of its continued existence in | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
this Parliament. My understanding had been that there was an | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
opportunity for members to make informal representations. The chair | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
cannot deal with specific cases and the chair is in no position of | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
authority to comment on particular circumstances, especially when given | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
no advance knowledge of them. If the Honourable Gentleman was to pursue | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
the issue further he can do so outside of the Chamber. If there are | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
no further points of order, we come to the ten minute rule motion. I | :03:14. | :03:22. | |
seek the permission of the House into juicy bill to provide local | :03:23. | :03:24. | |
authorities with the duties and powers required to identify and | :03:25. | :03:31. | |
automatically register all children eligible for free school meals, and | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
also to seek powers that those parents who do not wish their | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
children receive them have the power to opt out. That is the aim of the | :03:40. | :03:48. | |
bill. I grew up, as you did, as we all did in this House, in a world | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
where the term progress did not need to speak its name. It was the | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
assumption of all of after that things could only get better. It was | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
not only true in this Chamber country but in every Western | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
society. -- true in this Chamber or this country. I viewed the world | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
that I grew up as the train, there were differing compartments that | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
reflected our social classes. There was a first-class, second class, | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
third class, and fourth class department. The crucial thing about | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
this train journey was that we were all heading towards a better | :04:28. | :04:35. | |
tomorrow. In the past decade, the last carriage, the fourth class | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
carriage, has become detached from the train journey bereft of both our | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
own. It is not only here, but in every Western country, and we see it | :04:49. | :04:55. | |
on the rise of the banks. Last night in each of our constituencies, a | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
large number of children went to bed hungry and took that hunger to | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
school with them. The Secretary of State for Education is concerned | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
about this and is concerned about the number of children who appear | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
eligible for free school meals begin now hot meal at the beginning of the | :05:17. | :05:27. | |
day. -- free school meals but do not get a hot meal. She is looking at | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
how to spread the practice, but we know how long it can take. Bernard | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
Shaw, being Irish, did not have a lot of time for us English. He said | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
that if the English were promoted is from infernal to Paradise they would | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
still gather around and talk about the good old days, and there is | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
something in our culture that this is the spread of good practice. Why | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
these children went to school hungry is moderately complicated to | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
unravel. There is clearly at the bottom of society and increase in | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
the number of low paid jobs and the wages from those jobs are uncertain. | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
There are problems which the cross-party group on hunger have | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
identified to do with benefits and the problems of families who lead | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
such lives that they let their children go to school hungry when | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
they do have the resources to do otherwise. Some families do not, but | :06:31. | :06:37. | |
some families do. This bill takes the campaign against hunger is stage | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
further and it will compel local authorities to use their Housing | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
Benefit data to counter hunger by identifying 160,000 children who are | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
eligible for free school dinners but do not claim them. On average that | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
means that in each of our constituencies, 250 children go | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
hungry who do not need to do so. Equally important, because the last | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
Government like the school premium to eligibility for free school | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
meals. It would mean that in our schools ?211 million would follow | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
that 160,000 children so that schools would be better able to cope | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
with the issue of hunger and better able to integrate those children | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
into school trips along with other children. Your office told me, Mr | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
Speaker, that the second reading is not until the 22nd of January. | :07:40. | :07:47. | |
Already I think we have a record number of hundred and 26 members | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
from all sides of the House and with all kinds of opinions wishing for | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
this bill to proceed. It is in the power of the Secretary of State to | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
beat the bill and seek these powers herself. It would not by itself, | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
that move, bring a happy or more prosperous Christmas to those | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
children, but it would lay the basis that come the New Year there will be | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
fewer hungry children in Britain and are today and I seek the leave of | :08:20. | :08:27. | |
the House introduced the bill. The question is that the Right | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
Honourable member have leave to bring in the bill. As many are of | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
the opinion see aye. I think the aye habit. -- I think the ayes have it. | :08:37. | :08:58. | |
Myself and a Members of Parliament would like to see this brought into | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
the record. Free school meals bill. To be read | :09:03. | :09:44. | |
again on the 22nd of January. 22nd of January 2000 and 16. -- 2016. | :09:45. | :09:57. | |
Unless the Secretary of State backs before then. We come to the | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
opposition motion relating to climate change and flooding. The | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
amendment has not been selected. To move the motion, I called the Shadow | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
Secretary of State for environment, food and rural affairs. I beg to | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
move the motion as on the order paper. Mr Speaker, while the climate | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
deal that was reached and powers of the weekend there is some cause for | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
optimism that the world is now facing up to the global threat of | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
climate change, the recent floods brought home to as the urgency of | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
the situation here in the UK. Climate change is already happening | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
here and people need not only warm words that action from the | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
Government. A premature intervention. For the people of | :10:52. | :10:59. | |
Cumbria, these were the third major floods in a decade. In 2009, they | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
were told that the rainfall was unprecedented and that it was a once | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
in a century event, but the rainfall records have been broken again | :11:12. | :11:14. | |
causing devastation and heartbreak in the run-up to Christmas. Flooding | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
is all where the -- funding is already rated as the greatest risk | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
to the UK and the magnitude of severe flooding across the UK is | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
little to increase. Period of intense rainfall are projected to | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
increase by a factor of five and the most recent Met Office analysis | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
suggests that global warming of 2 degrees, and bear in mind that | :11:39. | :11:40. | |
powers the limit after 2 degrees, would increase the risk of extreme | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
flooding by a factor of seven. Responding to the flood risk by | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
building were flood defences is not enough. We need to look at how we | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
can reduce the risk through improved land and river management and we | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
need to minimise the future risk of floods and other extreme weather | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
events by tackling climate change. We welcome the Paris accord. Nearly | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
every country around the globe has committed to reducing carbon | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
emissions, building a carbon neutral global economy, limiting temperature | :12:10. | :12:16. | |
increases to 1.5 degrees and reviewing our ambitions every five | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
years. There are responsibilities to developing countries. This is very | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
welcome and it will make a positive difference to climate safety, but it | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
would be complacent to suggest that the Paris Accord on its own is | :12:30. | :12:30. | |
enough. The honourable lady is making a | :12:31. | :12:41. | |
strong case. As we heard from Paris, the country's most vulnerable to | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
climate impacts, 80% of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. Would | :12:49. | :12:56. | |
she be pleased with that? It is very important to make progress on that. | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
Government policy seems to be moving away from encouraging renewables and | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
are harming the renewable sector to a high degree making it very hard to | :13:10. | :13:19. | |
make that transfer from fossil fuel. Would you agree that cuts to | :13:20. | :13:26. | |
renewable energy threaten our economy, a successful local company | :13:27. | :13:36. | |
in my constituency may be forced to closed through the cuts in tariff, | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
making no sense for the environment or our economy? I entirely agree. | :13:41. | :13:49. | |
The renewables sector needs certainty. There is innovative work | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
being done. I visited a company in Stroud yesterday, not just building | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
on the excellent work in the renewables sector but far beyond the | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
mat. This is where the high-tech, high skilled jobs of the future are | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
and the government ought to do more to encourage this. We must act | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
knowledge that the individual pledges of Paris do not add to a | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
commitment to keep temperature rises below 2 degrees. We must ask what | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
further adaptation is needed. It is clear that the UK is not doing | :14:30. | :14:38. | |
enough. Contributing to the global climate fund does not mean that we | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
can pass the buck to developing nations. The UK has gone backwards. | :14:42. | :14:52. | |
The government has axed the carbon cap your storage fund and blocked | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
new wind farms, drastically cutting new energy and efficiency funds. It | :14:57. | :15:05. | |
is selling off the greenie investment bank without protecting | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
its Greenland eight. It is scrapping the zero Carbon standard for homes. | :15:10. | :15:17. | |
Its preoccupation with fracking and fossil fuels means that we have lost | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
thousands of greener jobs. She mentions that the UK is not doing | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
enough in terms of our plans. Could she tell the house one other OECD | :15:31. | :15:38. | |
country which has reduced carbon emissions by as much as the UK since | :15:39. | :15:47. | |
1990. Just one other? As the honourable member says, the UK has a | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
proud record on tackling climate change, not least with the | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
leadership shown by the member for Doncaster North. But we are now | :16:00. | :16:06. | |
coasting on that record and we need to do much more. The chairman of the | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
Committee on Climate Change had no alternative but to conclude last | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
month that the government's existing energy policy is clearly failing. | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
The CBI said that British businesses need clarity and need to know that | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
the government is serious about climate change. That the government | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
won't make superficial cream claims only to U-turn on environmental | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
policies. I understand we have to work together on renewables but we | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
are setting such a good example with Hinkley point on the border of my | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
constituency which is low carbon energy commitment, which is going to | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
generate 25,000 jobs. That is going to be terrific for the economy and | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
energy production. I accept that nuclear is part of the mix but it is | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
not the only solution to greener energy. There may be different | :17:05. | :17:16. | |
solutions going forward but I say to my right honourable friend and the | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
bench opposite that one of key conclusions from 21, the UK will | :17:20. | :17:34. | |
need to reset its reset. Whatever the solutions are, we need to do | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
more and faster. Would she agree with me that whatever the solutions, | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
one of the greatest things we can do is for the government to act set the | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
fifth carbon budget and put in place things to narrow the gap with the | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
fourth carbon budget. I agree entirely. There is almost a | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
consensus that the UK needs to go faster and introduce stronger | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
targets. I was saying that business needs certainty. The people in flood | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
zones need certainty to. I visited Carlisle and Cockermouth with the | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
Leader of the Opposition. We are grateful for the councils, business | :18:20. | :18:28. | |
owners and communities who showed as around their homes. We should reduce | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
their flood risk and make sure they never had to go through this again. | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
She will understand the concerns of many communities affected by | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
flooding that deaf wrap are unable to give any certainty to future | :18:48. | :18:48. | |
spending in relation to future flooding funding. -- Defra. I | :18:49. | :19:11. | |
want to sail a club that more about what I saw in constituencies. -- say | :19:12. | :19:23. | |
a little more. In Carlisle and Cockermouth, people who have seen | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
the TV coverage will be left dismayed by the horrific scenes we | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
have seen with people with their belongings out on the pavements, | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
their homes saturated, in temporary accommodation. There is an issue | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
about temporary accommodation in the area. There is not much private | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
rented accommodation to move into. We spoke to them about the massive | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
excess on their flood insurance premiums. Now that more floods have | :19:54. | :20:01. | |
happened, premiums are going to go up or they may not even be able to | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
insure their homes at all. On the issue of flood premiums, does she | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
share my concern that the government's new scheme does not | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
cover the insurance costs of businesses and does she share my | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
regret at the lack of solidarity in that scheme? This was mentioned to | :20:22. | :20:29. | |
as by small businesses. We were told that the government's logic was that | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
you could shop around in the market. But clearly if you were hit in 2005 | :20:35. | :20:42. | |
and 2009, and again now, you are going to struggle to find insurance. | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
It is enough to put them out of his must. Especially if closed for | :20:46. | :20:53. | |
refurbishment for several months because of the floods. The she agree | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
that it would be incorrect to link these very tragic instances to | :21:01. | :21:10. | |
flooding to global warming. As the IPC themselves say, it is impossible | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
to link individual items of bad weather with climate change. I think | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
the honourable gentleman needs to talk to the Environment Secretary | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
who acknowledged that... Individual episodes do not make a pattern but | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
we are clearly seeing a pattern emerging in terms of extreme weather | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
events both at home and abroad. Spending increased by real terms by | :21:39. | :21:47. | |
three quarters between 1997 and 2010. But funding has been slashed | :21:48. | :21:57. | |
by hundred and 60 million in 2011. It was lined up for further cuts in | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
2013 and 2014 before the cuts the Somerset Levels showed they had gone | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
too far. There are always listens to be learned. I will make sure that | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
there are. The Minister hasn't shown signs of learning those lessons. | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
Flood mismanagement expenditure was above ?800 million. It has now been | :22:21. | :22:29. | |
cut to ?700 million. How quickly those images of the Somerset Levels | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
have faded from the Prime Minister's mind. She is making an excellent | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
point. Does she share my regret that when the Prime Minister said money | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
is no object, it seems that when the images have faded from public | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
consciousness that money is an object. It seems that money was no | :22:52. | :22:59. | |
object in terms of the short-term clearer, although there were big | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
delays in some people getting that money. Council leaders have raised | :23:06. | :23:12. | |
concerns that they don't have the resources or staff to do that | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
Administration. I hope that is something the Minister will give | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
clarity on. Last week, the Environment Secretary was assuring | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
the people of Cumbria that the government would learn lessons. | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
After every flood, the thing you do after sitting down is to look at the | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
money you were spending and what you are building and ask if it is | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
enough? I'm not convinced if it is enough. We have had a double red | :23:42. | :23:51. | |
warning. The environment audit committee gave the government a | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
double red card. Experts have provided evidence that we are | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
already not doing enough. In terms of learning the lessons, is my | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
honourable friend surprised that something like half of the | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
Chancellor's plans to fast-track new-build houses are on flood | :24:15. | :24:24. | |
plains. People could struggle to get insurance for these new houses | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
because of their location on flood plains. We have seen that the | :24:28. | :24:35. | |
defences that people thought were safe enough, to withstand what was | :24:36. | :24:43. | |
described in 2009 as a once in a century event, they weren't good | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
enough. Therefore, the government would need to reassure me that any | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
defences they build in those areas would be sufficient to protect | :24:53. | :24:55. | |
people and also deal with the issue of insurance. The honourable lady is | :24:56. | :25:04. | |
making an eloquent case about what is going on in Cumbria. I'm | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
wondering if she took time to visit Lancashire where we have had really | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
bad floods as well. In the same year as floating to increase allowances, | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
Labour run Lancashire County Council have admitted that regular | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
inspection of storm drains has been increased from 12 months to 15 | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
months, inevitably leading to higher flood risk. I haven't had the | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
opportunity to visit to Lancashire yet although I did speak with the | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
honourable member for Lancaster and Fleetwood about the situation. I | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
think it is a bit of a cheap point to bring in details of council | :25:48. | :25:55. | |
allowances when we are talking about people's homes. Maybe he needs to | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
speak to his front bench about the massive cuts that his government are | :26:02. | :26:09. | |
imposing. On that point, does she agree with me that it would be worth | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
looking at local authorities running insurance systems to avoid high risk | :26:14. | :26:21. | |
and stop them building on flood plains. Perhaps the government could | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
look at that. It is probably one for the Environment Secretary to answer | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
when she responds in a moment. The government has announced that it | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
will invest 2.3 billion on flood defences in the next few years. This | :26:39. | :26:46. | |
relies on ?600 million of external contributions, less than half of | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
which have been secured. With the private sector providing just 61 | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
million, def is looking to local authorities for additional funding. | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
The government clearly doesn't get how hard councils have already been | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
hit by floods. There has been no progress in the past years on | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
schemes in Cumbria which have been delayed. On maintenance, we have | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
been told that the budget will be projected but does the Minister | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
believe this budget is sufficient given years of past neglect? The | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
government spent 71 million on maintenance last year. The | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
Environment Agency has recommended that 417 million should be needed. | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
Friends of the Earth have warned that there is a 2.5 billion hole in | :27:35. | :27:36. | |
the government's flood plans. Last week, Mr Speaker, the | :27:37. | :27:51. | |
Environment Secretary agreed with me about the extreme weather and | :27:52. | :27:54. | |
dealing with climate change and the Government has conceded it | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
underestimated the risks. They are not using the most up-to-date | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
information. I hope the Environment Secretary will be able to tell us by | :28:03. | :28:10. | |
the environment -- why there has been no use of new research that | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
shows river flows could be much greater. Flood defence plans are | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
modelled on the median pathway rather than the high scenario. This | :28:22. | :28:28. | |
would cost more money, to look at the high risk scenarios. However, | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
the costs of ignoring this a much greater. It is 81 priority risk | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
alongside terrorism and cyber attacks. By focusing on optimistic | :28:40. | :28:49. | |
projections, the Government is neglecting its responsibilities on | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
climate change. Ignoring climate change will not make it go away. For | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
two years, the UK was hampered by having a climate change denier as | :28:57. | :29:01. | |
the Environment Secretary and it is rumoured that he tried to replace | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
the word climate change wet weather in every document I had to be | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
explained to him that it was not the same thing. Under his stewardship | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
funding on I'm a change dropped. Thankfully the current climate | :29:20. | :29:28. | |
secretary is more interested in she will have our full support as she is | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
guided by expert advice. We look forward to hearing more details on | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
the national flood resilient review. I welcome the confirmation that the | :29:38. | :29:40. | |
Cumbrian floods partnership will be looking at upstream options and I | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
hope this will be included in the resilient review. The focus on the | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
role of the natural environment is unfortunately long overdue and I | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
know the environment Minister's constituency was badly affected. I | :29:56. | :30:08. | |
hope he is taking this on board. She is talking about national | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
resilience. Does you think it is a failure of the last Labour | :30:13. | :30:16. | |
Government are not have done this in 2005? For example, in Carlisle we | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
are in a flood plain area that was flooded in 2005 and thanks to the | :30:23. | :30:30. | |
hard work of the emergency services was not flooded in 2015. Why did | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
they not looking moving it? We did commission a review. The honourable | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
gentleman mentioned the work of the emergency services. I did meet with | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
mountain rescue when I was in Cumbria and they have done fantastic | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
work. There are calls for the Fire Brigade 's's response to flooding to | :30:53. | :31:01. | |
be on a statutory footing, not as an adult, and the mountain rescue teams | :31:02. | :31:07. | |
do wonderful work based on voluntary contributions and I hope that is | :31:08. | :31:09. | |
something that will be looked at as part of the review. With my | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
honourable friend agree with me that this is a timely opportunity for us | :31:17. | :31:19. | |
to look again at the funding of Fire Services up and down the country. On | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
Merseyside we have had extreme cuts and the whole model needs to be | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
revisited. This was raised with me. There are five fire stations in | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
Cumbria that are due to close and the control centre is in Warrington. | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
One point that has been made is that the firefighters on the ground have | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
the best local Norwich, but people in Warrington were trying to send | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
them to people where there are fire alarm had gone off but they were the | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
ones who knew the towns and villages were already under water and they | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
could not pass the roads. There is a lot to be said for keeping local | :31:58. | :32:02. | |
knowledge and local fire stations. I am sure constituency MPs will have | :32:03. | :32:05. | |
something to say about that. Flooding has had a devastating | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
impact on farmers are many in Cumbria have been hit by a double | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
whammy, having also been informed it will not receive their basic | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
payments until February. Given the losses that they have suffered from | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
flooding and a positive contribution of farmers I would hope that better | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
would be working closely with them to involve them in a long-term | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
strategic approach to flood risk, looking at ways to maximise | :32:31. | :32:32. | |
absorbency and how the Government can promote agricultural forestry. | :32:33. | :32:40. | |
We forcing 5% of land reduces flood peaks by 29%. -- pitting forest-mac | :32:41. | :32:50. | |
into 5% of the land. Sustainable drainage systems can make a positive | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
difference, but progress has been slow and difficult for local | :32:55. | :32:56. | |
authorities to make progress on flood risk management strategy since | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
limited. Especially considering the additional budget cuts. As the | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
climate is Committee reported, many have not yet finalised their | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
strategy is a boulder civil legal requirement for the last five years. | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
I hope the Environment Secretary is coordinating departmental work to | :33:13. | :33:15. | |
manage the flood risk and he is factoring it into plans such as | :33:16. | :33:22. | |
house-building plans. In light of the agreements reached in Paris, I | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
would urge the Environment Secretary to bring forward the climate change | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
risk assessment and to consider whether the national adaptation | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
programme is fit for purpose. As the Committee on climate change has | :33:36. | :33:38. | |
said, the next programme is a clear sense of priorities and measurable | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
objectives. Even if commitments are met, the Paris agreement means that | :33:43. | :33:45. | |
the Government must prepare for temperature rises of nearly three | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
degrees. Will the Secretary of State ensure that the national resilience | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
review which has been announced as only the first step in tackling this | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
problem? It must lead to a realistic plan and action. As yet, Mr Speaker, | :33:58. | :34:04. | |
we do not know what they need to adapt to because they do not know | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
what the Energy and Climate Change Secretary is proposed by way of | :34:11. | :34:12. | |
implementing the Paris agreement in the UK. In her statement on Paris | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
yesterday, there was little sense that the Government has any | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
strategy, let alone a fully funded one, to meet the UK's climate change | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
commitments to help the global community keep temperature rises | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
below to degrees. The UN's chief environment representative as had | :34:34. | :34:35. | |
intervened to challenge the Government's practices in renewable | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
energy. This said disappointed when we see countries like the United | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
Kingdom, who had been in the lead in terms of getting renewable energy up | :34:46. | :34:49. | |
and going, having their subsidies withdrawn and the fossil fuel | :34:50. | :34:52. | |
industry being enhanced. We can only agree that it is a very serious | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
signal that we do not want to create. Mr Speaker, the UK under the | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
last Labour administration had a proud record on climate change. From | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
Laura Prescott's role, Gordon Brown and his role in establishing the | :35:10. | :35:12. | |
global climate fund, and my right honourable friend the member for | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
Doncaster North of the climate change act, which has now been | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
emulated by 100 other countries. We were the first. That legacy is | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
slipping away and it is future generations who will pay the price. | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
As she fields and so my honourable friend's question yesterday, I hope | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
the Environment Secretary will now be able to confirm that they will be | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
reviewing the recently abandoned green policies and that the UK will | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
continue to support raising European targets and reducing carbon | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
emissions by 2030. It is not just energy where they need leadership. | :35:50. | :35:52. | |
Will she ensure that there is more coordination with the Department for | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
Transport, the department for businesses prioritise in green jobs | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
and that our financial services to Nokia promoting investing in fossil | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
fuels. Will she stop the Chancellor for making short-term cuts, ignoring | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
the environmental and human costs. Expert after expert is warning that | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
the Government is failing on climate change and failing to protect people | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
from flooding. They are letting down communities who are dreading the | :36:19. | :36:22. | |
next heavy downfall and they are and future generations who will there | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
the brunt of climate change. I hope, Mr Speaker, both the secretaries of | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
state will agree that this Government has run out of excuses | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
and now is the time to act. The question is as on the order paper. | :36:36. | :36:43. | |
Mr Speaker, the exceptional rainfall we have seen in the last couple of | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
weeks has led to some very distressing situations for families | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
and businesses in the North of England, with serious flooding has | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
occurred. It is rightly we use every opportunity offered in this House to | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
express our sympathy for those most deeply affected. It is also right to | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
be paid tribute to the work of emergency responders, to the | :37:08. | :37:10. | |
Environment Agency, and volunteers from around the country who have | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
worked tirelessly to help get people to safety and to clean up so quickly | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
so that people can return to their homes as soon as possible. The | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
Government mobilised for all national emergency response. We | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
deployed the military from day one to protect the lives of people. The | :37:30. | :37:37. | |
corporate contingency Committee has met every day to see how resources | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
can be deployed to communities and the recovery effort continues. -- | :37:43. | :37:43. | |
equal bra. Equal. Can you help the people that | :37:44. | :37:57. | |
have suffered so much for some additional funding and how quickly | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
could that is secured? That is one of the aspects we are looking at | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
that it would take seven months for that money to comment. What we have | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
done is that then one week of these terrible flood occurring, we have | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
made available ?51 million to give immediate relief to the households | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
and businesses in Cumbria, right across the North, that have been | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
affected. The Chancellor announced that last week we were supporting | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
households and businesses in affected areas. The honourable lady | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
asked about accommodation and we are very concerned to make sure that | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
there is available accommodation for those who are out of their homes and | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
we're working with local councils to make sure that they have every | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
possible resource that they need to able to do that. We had divers | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
assessing the bridges to get those open as soon as possible. We had | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
diggers clearing out the roads. We are doing everything we can to make | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
sure that we get Cumbria up and running as soon as possible and that | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
it is open to business as soon as possible. I give way. She rightly | :39:03. | :39:09. | |
says there has been great effort to clear the roads. The main connecting | :39:10. | :39:17. | |
a road between the north and the South has been closed and that has | :39:18. | :39:20. | |
effectively ruin the two this industry on both sides of that | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
divide. The Royal Engineers did a great job clearing the mess and he | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
left yesterday. Can she do something to invite them back to rebuild a | :39:30. | :39:37. | |
quickly? She is right. The road is a critical artery and it is important | :39:38. | :39:44. | |
for up to get about. -- tourism. It is now passable with a four by four | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
vehicle and we tried to get it running as quickly as possible. The | :39:51. | :39:53. | |
Department for Transport are working very closely with the emergency | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
teams to make sure that it happens. The West Coast mainline is up and | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
running and that was put up and running as soon as possible. Almost | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
all of the hundred and 69 households who have had their power cuts have | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
been reconnected apart from a small group of under 50 who require extra | :40:17. | :40:23. | |
work. We have the Environment Agency assessing what more can be done and | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
moving in heavy equipment to clear rivers. Our priority must remain | :40:27. | :40:33. | |
with public safety. Although 84 flood warnings have been removed and | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
the last day, further for now -- further flooding could occur because | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
of saturated ground. I urge people to keep up-to-date with the | :40:44. | :40:52. | |
Environment Agency's website. Although this is of no comfort to | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
those who have suffered, the flood defences have successfully defended | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
over 100,000 houses and businesses from losing their power supplies and | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
what is important is that we look at how we can further improve | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
resilience in our country. My right honourable friend with | :41:12. | :41:13. | |
responsibility for energy and climate change is working to ensure | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
that we have long-term energy security and that we are tackling | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
dangerous emissions. I think that she has showing massive readership | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
over the past week in what she has achieved in Paris. It is a hazard | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
oracle achievement -- it is a historical achievement and think | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
those should be applauding her great leadership at an international | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
level. I can see honourable members on the benches opposite | :41:44. | :41:46. | |
acknowledging that is the case and that is extremely welcome from the | :41:47. | :41:49. | |
former climate change secretary. In an I'm grateful to the Secretary | :41:50. | :42:03. | |
of State and I apologise for bringing back the subject of | :42:04. | :42:07. | |
flooding. Does she think it is time for a radical change in the way we | :42:08. | :42:15. | |
fund flood maintenance? We get promises and they fade. It tends to | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
happen under all governments. Should the responsibility be handed over to | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
a regulated standard, for example the water companies? We have made a | :42:28. | :42:36. | |
change. Rather than seeing a stop -start in flood defence spending, we | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
have laid out a fully funded six-year programme to give | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
communities that certainty. I will be talking about that later in my | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
comments. I was in the middle of praising my right honourable friend | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
for doing a fantastic job and I need that to be acknowledged. At the same | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
time as achieving an international deal on climate change, moving to | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
A-level playing field, it is really important to get countries across | :43:06. | :43:14. | |
the world to contribute, it is also important that we get improvements | :43:15. | :43:23. | |
to customer at home. My noble friend is showing the way that is done. The | :43:24. | :43:32. | |
reality is, under this government, there is a long-term plan for | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
economic and energy security. Part of that plan is improving our | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
resilience and investing in flood defences. There are seeing extreme | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
weather events becoming more common. We have seen devastating floods in | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland, and elsewhere. We saw record | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
rainfall and water levels in our rivers half a metre higher than ever | :44:00. | :44:06. | |
before. I've visited on my second visit to Cumbria in a week, I | :44:07. | :44:16. | |
visited Appleby yesterday and met local residents, army and volunteers | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
who have been tremendous during this rescue effort. I saw the sheer power | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
of the water and the way it had washed away bridges downstream. I | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
also saw huge spirit and resilience throughout the region. I would | :44:33. | :44:38. | |
invite her to come back to the question about maintenance grants. | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
The amount of money spent on maintaining a cyst in flood | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
shortfall of 2.5 billion on what the shortfall of 2.5 billion on what the | :44:51. | :44:53. | |
Environment Agency says is needed and will she fill it? As part of the | :44:54. | :45:01. | |
Autumn Statement we are increasing maintenance spending from real terms | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
from 171 million per year. In a climate where we are having to | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
reduce government budgets, we are increasing in real terms, flood | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
capital spending and flood maintenance spending, which shows | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
the priority we place on this. Sir Michael Pitt in his report after the | :45:24. | :45:30. | |
2007 floods said that flooding was the greatest risk we face from | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
climate change and that spending needed to rise by more than | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
inflation each and every year. Can she explain why in real terms we | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
will be spending exactly the same as we were spending in 2009-10? The | :45:45. | :45:55. | |
reality is that between 2005-10, Labour spent 1.5 billion on flood | :45:56. | :46:08. | |
capital, in 2005-2010 -2015 which is a real term increase not a cut. We | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
are investing 2 billion which is a real terms increase and not a cut. | :46:15. | :46:24. | |
We are spending 2 billion, between 2005-10, Labour spent 1.5 billion. | :46:25. | :46:34. | |
It represents a real terms increase. The question is, does she think that | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
is sufficient given the recent events and the clear and growing | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
link to climate change and the devastating effects it is causing? | :46:47. | :46:55. | |
What these additional funding that we are putting into flood defences | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
will mean is a reduction in flood risk over the next six years. Not an | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
elimination of risk. We need to make sure that we have the right | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
emergency response in place but it will reduce flood risk. I wanted to | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
answer the point raised in the opposition benches about the | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
spending in recent years. The reality is, following the 2013-14 | :47:24. | :47:30. | |
floods, we put in an extra 270 million to repair and rebuild those | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
defences destroyed. That is the money the benches opposite are | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
talking about. Even if you take into account the extra funding we put in | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
which was rebuilding those defences after the winter floods, we are | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
still spending more in real terms in this Parliament on flood defences. | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
We are laying it out in a six-year programme for the first time ever. | :47:59. | :48:05. | |
The fact is, when Labour were in power, they never laid out plans for | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
more than one year at a time. We are laying out a six-year plan. Could I | :48:11. | :48:20. | |
ask the Secretary of State, when the ask the Secretary of State, when the | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
Chancellor was pulling together his fast-track terms for housing, half | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
of which are going to be built on flood plain areas, did she have | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
sight on that policy and comment on it? If not, why not? The Environment | :48:35. | :48:42. | |
Agency are part of the planning process, they do not allow | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
house-building on flood plain areas. That is part of the planning | :48:49. | :48:49. | |
process. She will remember, not just Cumbria, | :48:50. | :49:04. | |
but the awful time we had in Somerset with the flooding but I | :49:05. | :49:09. | |
have got to say that the government have committed ?35 billion to | :49:10. | :49:17. | |
Somerset until 2021 and I wonder about the arrangement we are putting | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
into place with the Somerset Rivers authority that may provide a model | :49:22. | :49:28. | |
for other areas. She is absolutely right. The Somerset Rivers authority | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
does form a model which I believe we can use in other parts of the | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
country. It gives local people who understand the area and the local | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
catchment, the power to be able to make decisions. I have given away | :49:44. | :49:58. | |
once, I will make progress. Is to respond to the opposition point | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
about local farmers, I met with them yesterday. We are helping them to | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
get their land are sorted out, much of which is covered with rubble. We | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
are putting in place a special scheme to help farmers which will be | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
open from Friday and we are privatising basic farm payments for | :50:19. | :50:26. | |
those -- prioritising basic farm payments for those worst affected. | :50:27. | :50:31. | |
This is the first time ever a government has laid out future flood | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
defence spending. The private partnership funding is in addition | :50:36. | :50:42. | |
to the real terms increase. That is extra money. To mean that even more | :50:43. | :50:51. | |
flood defence schemes can go ahead. We have secured ?250 million of that | :50:52. | :50:58. | |
money and have a 350 million earmarked. We are only six months | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
into the scheme. Remember what happened between 2005-10. Only ?13 | :51:04. | :51:11. | |
million was raised. We raised 134 million in the last Parliament, ten | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
times what was raised under the previous government. What the money | :51:17. | :51:23. | |
we are putting in represents is real defences across the country. In | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
Boston, we are building a new ?90 million barrier. In Lancashire, we | :51:29. | :51:35. | |
are investing ?63 million for a two kilometres sea wall. In Exeter, ?30 | :51:36. | :51:44. | |
million on new flood defences. On the Thames, ?220 million on a 17 | :51:45. | :51:51. | |
kilometre flood relief channel. In the Honourable Lady's constituency | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
of Bristol East, we will be investing ?1 million in a scheme. In | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
Stockton North, ?8 million in a scheme at Port Clarence. What this | :52:02. | :52:13. | |
real terms increase in spending means is protection for real | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
families and businesses across the country in addition to protection | :52:18. | :52:28. | |
for 420,000 acres of farmland. She knows that local MPs around the | :52:29. | :52:32. | |
Humber supported a proposal looking for around ?1 billion for the second | :52:33. | :52:40. | |
greatest strategic risk after London, the Humber area. What plans | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
are therefore a viable programme for that area coming forward? We are | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
investing ?80 million in flood defences for that area but I'm happy | :52:53. | :52:56. | |
to meet him and colleagues to talk about what more we can do to | :52:57. | :53:03. | |
increase resilience in this area. I think it is very important to note | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
that we are not complacent about our flood defences. We are looking at | :53:08. | :53:13. | |
what has happened in recent weeks to make sure we learn lessons and act | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
upon the new evidence that has come to light. We have committed | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
ourselves to two reviews. First of all, the fund -- the Cumbria | :53:24. | :53:36. | |
flooding partnership. We'll we will look at downstream defences and how | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
we can slow the flow upstream and how we can more involve the | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
community. I saw a fantastic project last week where they are using | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
upstream mitigation to reduce the peaks in river flow. It is already | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
happening and I want to see more of it. That is why we are launching | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
this new work stream. We are putting in place the National resilience | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
review to see how we model extreme weather and how we protect critical | :54:07. | :54:13. | |
assets and how we make future investment decisions which I think | :54:14. | :54:15. | |
my honourable friend was asking about further. To be clear, the ?2.3 | :54:16. | :54:23. | |
billion programme we have put in, we want communities to have certainty | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
that projects are going ahead. This will look at future flooding | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
investment to make sure that the formula is adapted to what we now | :54:32. | :54:39. | |
know. We already have some of the most sophisticated flood modelling | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
in the world. For the first time in Cumbria during this flooding we used | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
resilience direct, meaning all the emergency services could communicate | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
together in real time with the Environment Agency which was very | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
effective in getting early action, and we are working to make sure that | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
we keep up-to-date with the latest trends in climate and extreme | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
weather that the Honourable Lady was talking about. Mr Speaker, I'd like | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
to conclude my remarks now. We are completely committed to do whatever | :55:17. | :55:25. | |
it takes to make sure Cumbria and other flood affected areas are more | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
resilient in the future. Without a strong economy, under a strong | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
Conservative government, we wouldn't have money for these crucial | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
schemes. It is our party that is investing in new power stations and | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
make each other we have the energy supply is well reducing carbon | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
emissions. It is our party that is investing to make this country more | :55:50. | :55:55. | |
resilient and adapt to climate change and extreme weather. The | :55:56. | :56:01. | |
party opposite have no plan, they shirk these decisions in office and | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
they wasted our money. Let's remember what the Chief Secretary | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
said, he said, I'm afraid there is no money. That was their legacy. The | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
fact is, it is this side of the house that is affecting our economy, | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
safeguarding our security and our future. Thank you for allowing me | :56:23. | :56:32. | |
the opportunity to take part in this debate. First of all, I'd like to | :56:33. | :56:39. | |
urge all Honourable members on this side of the house, in particular, to | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
pay close attention to what I have to say. Unfortunately, this | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
opposition Day motion shows a fundamental lack of understanding of | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
the reality on the ground in Holly and the Scottish Borders, which is | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
my constituency, which suffered serious flooding earlier this month. | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
I thank the member for giving way and will he also accept that there | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
have been problems in serious flooding in Northern Ireland and he | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
gives no reference to that at all. There are 60 roads still closed in | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
my constituency today. I thank the honourable member for that | :57:24. | :57:25. | |
intervention and it is an excellent point. My constituency is mentioned | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
and emotion but has not been mentioned once in proceedings so | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
far. It is the same experience. It is very disappointing that the | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
motion makes a fundamental error in terms of the funding process for | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
flood defences in Scotland. I hope my speech to explain this and why | :57:44. | :57:53. | |
and make upfront. The River TV broke its banks on the 15th of December | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
and 600 people had to be evacuated. 333 homes were impacted as well as | :58:00. | :58:06. | |
45 local businesses. The town reacted magnificently to the crisis. | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
I was along with the volunteers and community safety Minister on the | :58:14. | :58:19. | |
ground putting down sandbags under the direction of Hawick police and | :58:20. | :58:27. | |
emergency services, who all did a fantastic job. The reality is that | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
if it had not been for their help in intervention then things could've | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
been a lot worse and I like to pay tribute to all of their efforts, | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
including Scottish Borders Council. Our councils tend to be the whipping | :58:44. | :58:47. | |
boys, solid like to pay tribute to them for coordinating the effort. -- | :58:48. | :58:54. | |
so I would like. The damage caused by the flood in Hawick has been | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
significant. The Scottish Government made it clear from the start that | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
the scheme would be implemented to fund repair work. It also emphasised | :59:03. | :59:09. | |
that money is available to fund a fool flood prevention scheme. A | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
preferred scheme has been frozen and they are now moving to the detailed | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
design. Have now been chosen. It is critical to get this right. It can | :59:20. | :59:25. | |
feel or make things worse if it is not right. The swift response has | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
eased the worries of people in the towns and shown the Scottish | :59:32. | :59:33. | |
Government to be empathetic and fast acting. I will give way. He thinks | :59:34. | :59:41. | |
that the Scottish Government have been exemplary and wonderful and | :59:42. | :59:46. | |
there is nothing else that he would ask them to do on behalf of his | :59:47. | :59:48. | |
constituents on this important matter. That is a glowing tribute to | :59:49. | :00:00. | |
the people of my constituency. If he would like to listen I will explain | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
the process in more detail. If anyone stands up on any side of the | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
House, and there is a sense that nothing can be learnt, it would be a | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
mistake. It is always possible to improve the response to be better | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
next time. The flooding that took place will be examined in detail and | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
will inform the flood defences that are put in place. Across Scotland | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
there was a first-class and highly impressive multi-agency response. | :00:29. | :00:35. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, the truth is Madam Deputy Speaker, the truth is | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
that we will never be able to stop flooding. It has been with us | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
throughout history. The old throughout history. The old | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
Testament and the Koran tells us about now and the Ark and I must be | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
people in Scotland and in Carlisle who thought that they were extras in | :00:54. | :01:01. | |
the sequel. As we cannot prevent water, we must do our best and | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
redirecting it. In Scotland, all of the flood defences that we had in | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
place held. In Galashiels, they stayed in place and in Selkirk where | :01:13. | :01:20. | |
they had only been half built they still did their job. That highlights | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
how well designed schemes can make a difference. The Scottish Government | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
regards reduced flood risk as a priority and provide annual funding | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
of ?42 million for councils to invest in major flood prevention | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
schemes. Does he accept that there is an issue of urban flooding, that | :01:41. | :01:47. | |
is less reported. I know my constituency it is now been renamed | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
as an island because all the access roads were blocked with flooding. It | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
is important that local authorities invest this money appropriately. He | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
is absolutely right. It is not just the challenge, the flooding can be | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
exacerbated by the Constitution of dwellings. In some parts of | :02:10. | :02:20. | |
Scotland... I will give way. Having been in charge of flood risk | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
management to Wales and all have imported the devolved administration | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
is in this respect. Can I ask him if he is looking at the situation of | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
capturing water on buildings in box so that it believes the amount they | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
goes down into sewers and secondly whether they are investing in the | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
resilience of particular properties in terms of waterproofing, because | :02:43. | :02:51. | |
no defence is 100% reliable. I think he displays an Admiral knowledge of | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
the subject and if my House is ever in a flooding plane I know who to go | :02:56. | :03:04. | |
to for advice. This debate is about time it change and flooding, but | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
there are so many other issues in terms of land use that could be | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
covered in more detail. You must always plan to prevent at a local | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
level and mitigate where you can. He makes an excellent point. The | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
Scottish Government enacted its flood risk management act in 2009. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
This introduces our sustainable and modern approach to flood risk | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
development, which considers the problems of climate change. For | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
example, it provides a streamlined process for protection schemes and a | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
framework for quarter nation between organisations involved in flood risk | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
management. New methods have also management. New methods have also | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
been put in place to ensure that stakeholders have a proper input | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
into this process as is happening in Hawick now. Another hugely important | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
piece of legislation is that climate change Scotland Act, enacted in | :03:57. | :04:08. | |
2009. It sets the hard as climate change targets in the world with an | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
80% reduction target by 2080. Ministers are required to report | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
regularly to the Scottish Parliament on progress on emissions. By earlier | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
this year, the Committee on climate change concluded that Scotland had | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
continued to make good progress towards meeting these ambitious | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
greenhouse gas reduction targets and we are on track to make that 42% | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
target ahead of schedule. We continue to outperform the UK as a | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
whole. In Western Europe, only one of the EU 15 states, Sweden, has | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
achieved greater reductions. The Scottish Government has not hit all | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
of its targets, partly because of the per4-mac revisions but I think | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
it should be applauded for its ambitious vision to want to lead the | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
way. The determination is that Scotland should continue to be a | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
world leader in this area and that surely is the right approach to | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
take. We should acknowledge its ambition and successes so far and I | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
hope in this Chamber we can recognise there is a lot to learn | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
from this in terms of best practice. The Scottish Government has pledged | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
?1 billion of funding for two years of climate change action and there | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
are plenty of reasons for optimism. Last year, renewables overtook the | :05:29. | :05:39. | |
clear as Scotland's largest forum of power and wind turbines produce 139% | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
of the electrical needs of Scottish hassles. These are highly | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
encouraging figures. However no nation can ever live in isolation. | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
Only by working together can world leaders properly address this, the | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
greatest environmental threat of our age. At the summit last week we | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
managed to achieve universal agreement, one that has been signed | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
up to by rich and poor countries alike. I would like to congratulate | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
the Secretary of State for her hard work in securing success at this | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
historic convention, one which Scotland, and Ireland's First | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
will not solve global warming, it is will not solve global warming, it is | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
not a panacea. Paris finally showed that the world, along with the | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
commitment, is there. I'm grateful to him for giving way. Emissions | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
from aviation and shipping were left out from the Paris agreement. That | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
he agree that is a fatal omission? Does he think that airport expansion | :06:48. | :06:56. | |
would make a problem for the UK to meet its climate change commitments? | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
That is an excellent point and it was notable in a recent carbon | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
reports that air contributions were excluded. We must start looking at | :07:10. | :07:18. | |
the whole picture. Paris did show that they will for a strong | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
commitment is there as long as the hundred and 96 Nations the signed up | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
to the declaration are going to prove that their word is their bond. | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
Then we can look forward to a future that is bright and greed. In | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
Scotland, as in so many other countries, this agreement could | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
reshape our landscape. At the moment increasing rainfall and changes in | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
patterns mean our 50,000 kilometre is of rivers are likely to flood | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
more often. This create affect most of our major airports as well as the | :07:52. | :07:59. | |
petrochemical complex. Rising sea levels mean that some of our coastal | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
habitats could be lost entirely. There is another factor. I may | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
change affects a disease that affects sheep and renders their | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
lungs unusable as food. I hope not to disturb my colleagues here, but | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
sheep lungs are key ingredient in haggis. This is central to Scottish | :08:21. | :08:28. | |
culture. What with Burns night they were about haggis? -- with haggis. | :08:29. | :08:37. | |
But now we can avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
and its affect on our food. The SNP has argued strongly against UK | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
Government moves to roll back support for renewable energy. | :08:50. | :08:58. | |
Subsidies to onshore wind, solar, and wind power are being reversed | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
and cyber funding is being scrapped. Some of my colleagues plan to talk | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
about this in more detail, the Treasury's decision to cut | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
investment in carbon capture and Scottish technology, which is | :09:11. | :09:12. | |
short-sighted. Some environmentalists say that we are | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
now going through the worst period in green policy for 30 years. They | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
need for positive and dramatic action stares us in the face. | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
Climate change can no longer be denied. After Paris, every nation is | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
going to have to be bolder. This offers us an opportunity to change | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
the direction of travel. It is a perfect time for ministers to | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
reverse the recent negative attitudes towards renewable and like | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
Scotland turn the UK into a leader. They must walk the walk. This is our | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
moment of choice. We can turn back the tide. For us and for our | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
children and grandchildren there is still time. I employ this Government | :09:56. | :10:06. | |
to help do so. Thank you. It is a pleasure to take part in this | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
debate. It follows the excellent news from Paris and the more | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
depressing news of recent flooding. I have just lost two of my favourite | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
ministers from the bench, but I have another still on the front bench so | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
I'm delighted to have their temporary audience. I would like the | :10:27. | :10:35. | |
right honourable lady to congratulate -- I would like, like | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
the right honourable lady, to congratulate the Minister on the | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
deal in Paris. There will be different colleagues throughout this | :10:45. | :10:46. | |
debate who will talk about how effective that deal was and how it | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
contrasts the Copenhagen, which the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
has such scars from. Despite a lot of the detail being left for future | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
work, I think we do have a framework in Paris which can give us hope for | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
the future by building on these national contributions. We have the | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
building blocks that we can use to go forward and we have got in place | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
in the agreement the promise of a stock take and a review and | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
hopefully a growth in ambition over time. It seems to me that following | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
Paris, the Secretary of State on the front bench half to things to do. -- | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
had two things today. They had to make sure that UK reduction of | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
carbon proceeds within the framework of the climate change act 2008 and | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
those produced by the climate change Committee. I think it is worth | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
saying, Madam Deputy Speaker, that we do not always have it right. For | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
instance, if we look at onshore wind, which is currently the lowest | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
cost form of renewable energy that we have, there was a misdiagnosis of | :12:01. | :12:08. | |
the problem. The diagnosis of the problem which people like me have to | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
provide to our constituencies that they did not like having onshore | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
wind turbines forced on them, the local councillors ignored, and have | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
a distant directorate in and then being built, losing any control over | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
the local environment. Local people want to have control over the local | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
environment and what they want to do is in the areas where there is least | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
opposition, over the recompense could be such, they should go ahead, | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
but where they do not want them, they should not go ahead. That was a | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
mistake that the party opposite made with they were in Government and we | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
tried to get them to see that we would ultimately end up with more if | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
we went with the grain of local opinion rather than try to fight | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
against it. And inevitably, those two were having the local | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
environment dominated by these shots are as we divided political voice | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
and eventually they would bring it to a halt and we would end up with | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
less rather than more. That is how it has proved. The misdiagnosis of | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
that my party came to the conclusion the difficulty was not about the | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
planning, it was about the subsidy, although it is the lowest subsidy of | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
any renewable energy. We are in a bizarre situation where we have no | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
subsidy on the cheapest for but we talk about lowering the cost to | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
consumers. We should have removed the right to appeal to the | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
inspectorate and allowed the developers to provide packages that | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
won support in certain parts of the country, and personally I think we | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
would've ended up with more. Now we have a situation with the cheapest | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
form of renewable energy does not get any support, which is a bizarre | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
situation for us to BN. We do not want to make further mistakes like | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
that. In my local area we have offshore wind and by next year we | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
should have six gigawatts of offshore wind in this country, more | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
than the rest of the world combined. By 2020 we should have ten gigawatts | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
and as the Secretary of State recently laid out, and the | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
Chancellor, there is every hope that we can see a doubling of that | :14:07. | :14:15. | |
between 2020 in 2030. The like 2020 and 2030. We are making significant | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
process and it is only because of the pipeline that we have seen the | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
supply line manufacturers able to invest a lower cost. | :14:23. | :14:30. | |
In a a big task is to work out how we are going to deliver lower carbon | :14:31. | :14:39. | |
emissions at the lowest possible cost. Ten years ago, in Montreal, | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
the conclusion was that we had to get costs down otherwise it was | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
going to be hand-wringing environmental concern, sadly, which | :14:50. | :14:58. | |
is not shared that widely amongst the populace of this country or | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
parliamentarians. We needed to get costs down so it becomes politically | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
more acceptable to people to do that which is more effective as tackled | :15:10. | :15:18. | |
by the science. Every decision in this area should be about creating a | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
framework which encourages investment. The state is a | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
relatively small player. Sometimes we talk as if the state is the key | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
driver, it isn't. It is a small player. We create the framework and | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
then we get the investment, in solar, in private companies in | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
China, which has led to a massive reduce in costs. With the help of | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
the greening investment bank, we have accelerated the curve downwards | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
in offshore wind. That is what we have to do. There was a lot of | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
positive rhetoric under the last government from Labour but there was | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
remarkably little action. In 2010, there was not the progress which we | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
should have seen. In the United States, by comparison, the rhetoric | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
is negative but the policy environment has been more positive. | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
That is why we have seen investment in the United States and more | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
innovation and more jobs created and we have seen in this country, even | :16:30. | :16:36. | |
though we have appeared and try to be world leaders. I tried to say | :16:37. | :16:48. | |
this on a cross-party basis, the success in offshore wind which is | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
quite remarkable and needs to be kept going, was built on the back of | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
the pipeline that was set up in that period of a Labour government where | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
they put in the investment import facilities that allows Siemens to | :17:03. | :17:12. | |
manufacture here. I know the pipeline. Quite a lot of progress | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
made in the last five or six years was built on that basis but in the | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
13 years of the Labour government remarkably little progress was made. | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
If you compare the investment environment in renewable | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
technologies in the United States with the actual investments in this | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
country, I don't think we come out all that Bromley. I wanted to make a | :17:37. | :17:46. | |
few remarks about challenges the government faces about lessening | :17:47. | :17:58. | |
carbon. Building confidence at a national level to go further than us | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
when we have the review in five years' time to raise the ambition | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
and not heading towards under three degrees but genuinely heading for a | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
sub 2 degrees world. There is a gym in this amount to be done in | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
engaging parliamentarians. Colleagues from across the chamber | :18:22. | :18:29. | |
attended the summit in Paris. We need to engage more with | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
parliamentarians, particularly, it is equally true in parliaments like | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
this where there are, despite the attendance today, remarkably few | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
colleagues with much interest in the subject matter, we have got to | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
engage more people in the subject matter and get those frameworks that | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
will deliver investment. In developing countries there is a huge | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
role for the UK in diplomacy and with engaging with parliamentarians | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
to pass laws, set budgets and hold governments to account. I aim to | :19:06. | :19:14. | |
finish in ten minutes. I will briefly say something about | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
flooding, following my intervention on the other secretary of state | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
earlier. The threat to the Humber is real and growing with rising sea | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
levels. Last December we saw a bigger surge than we saw in 1953, if | :19:30. | :19:36. | |
the wind direction and other factors have been slightly different we | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
almost certainly would have seen loss of life. It is a growing issue | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
and we need a long-term solution. Leaving it to government which has | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
to decide on investment between schools, hospitals and other things, | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
and investment long-term from other things, there's a tendency to cut | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
that back, would it not be better to set the regulatory standard on which | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
you rely, hand it over to companies like water companies, whose job is | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
to borrow money from international markets, invest at the lowest | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
possible cost to deliver an agreed standard. If we had a statutory | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
agreed standard with a duty placed on those companies to deliver, with | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
the whole taxpayers picking it up, it would save the Chancellor from | :20:27. | :20:34. | |
hitting the exchequer directly, we would also have lower cost for the | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
long-term and stop having heated debates every time we have a flood | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
disaster which, given climate change, is likely to happen more | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
often in the future. Let me say it is a pleasure to follow the | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
Honourable member for Beverley and Holderness who plays an important | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
role in the global organisation of parliamentarians and this is coming | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
at a timely moment after the Paris agreement and the tragedy of the | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
floods. I know many Honourable members on my side want to talk | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
about this, so I will try and keep reasonably brief. I want to focus on | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
what it means for domestic policy. I want to praise the Secretary of | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
State for Energy and Climate Change because she played an important role | :21:28. | :21:30. | |
in these talks and I believe she was the host of the high ambition | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
coalition. Her office was the headquarters of the coalition | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
between developed and from rubble countries and she deserves credit | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
for the role she played in these talks. Having said that, when I | :21:43. | :21:52. | |
listen to her statement yesterday, I don't want to be unfair to her, I | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
felt her situation was everything has changed and nothing has changed. | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
Internationally, everything has changed, high ambitions, all that | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
stuff. But in the UK nothing has changed. 1.5 degrees. No agreement | :22:11. | :22:29. | |
before. No agreement has enshrined a commitment to limit the increase in | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
global warming to 1.5 Celsius. This is high ambition than in any | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
previous agreement. The Secretary of State knows that because she was one | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
of the people who helped broker the agreement. It is interesting as to | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
why it was. It was the case put forward by countries like the | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
Marshall Islands who will disappear with warming of more than 1.5 | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
degrees. The fear is this high ambition coalition was a ruse. A | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
ruse to break up the grouping of the G 17 plus China in order to put | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
pressure on the Chinese to get an agreement. I don't believe it was. | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
But we cannot say our domestic policy doesn't change will stop if | :23:18. | :23:26. | |
our attitude to 1.5 agreement is the same as 282 degrees -- at 2 degrees | :23:27. | :23:35. | |
agreement, is the same, countries like the Marshall Islands are going | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
to wonder if we are serious. There was a suggestion that it was even | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
more important to me to recommendations on carbon budgets. I | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
would be interested to hear from her what she thinks are the implications | :23:55. | :24:04. | |
for this more exacting target. This is a really strong case which I | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
appreciate but on the issue between 1.5, it surely means that we need to | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
think about aviation expansion. Nobody even mention climate | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
yesterday and yet aviation is one of the biggest sources of climate | :24:21. | :24:31. | |
change gases. I played a part in that unhappy saga when we were in | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
government. I pushed for a target for aviation emissions. That has got | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
to be looked at as part of the 1.5 degrees target. There can't be | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
unconstrained expansion of aviation. This agreement doesn't contain just | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
a 1.5 degrees end but a long-term goal of zero emissions. The | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
Secretary of State said she was happy pursuing existing targets in | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
the climate change act. I think those targets are very important. I | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
helped legislate for them and I am happy that she wants to make sure | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
that we meet them. When I was climate change Secretary, we haven't | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
had a global agreement for net zero emissions. It can't possibly be the | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
case that we got this global commitment to zero emissions but it | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
has no implications for UK domestic policy. Of course we have got to | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
think what it means for the UK. My case is, I'm not answering for an | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
answer today, when the energy Bill comes back in the New Year, she | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
amends the bill to last the climate change committee to look at the | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
issue and make a recommendation to government about when we should | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
achieve zero emissions. I think this would do a number of things, it | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
would send a cross-party message that Britain is determined to be a | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
climate leader. She has talked eloquently about that. It would | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
reduce, not increase, the cost of transition and provide a clear | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
trajectory to business and future government. To the members opposite | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
who have concerns about this, it would be supported by business. I'm | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
not the most radical person on this. The most radical people are Richard | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
Branson, the head of Unilever, they don't just want what I am saying, | :26:29. | :26:38. | |
they want zero emissions by 2050. I'm taking a much more pragmatic | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
approach. With the honourable gentleman who I will give way to, | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
let's not plucked a figure out of the air. Let's not do that without | :26:48. | :26:54. | |
having experts look at it. Let's see what the implications are for having | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
a global goal of zero emissions for the UK. | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
I'm grateful to the right honourable gentleman and I agree with what he | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
has said. Doesn't the involvement of Unilever suggest that if we get to | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
the conditions and the money flowing, then we can create these | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
jobs here. If we are lagging behind with uncertainty, then we will not | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
have pioneering businesses investing here and providing jobs here and | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
let's do the best we can for this country and do the best we can. I | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
think the honourable gentleman makes an important point. He and I have | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
discussed this many times in our conversations. What are we working | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
towards? That is why leading businesses are putting forward is. I | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
do say to the Secretary of State, I don't want to say it is easy because | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
it is a long way off, she would go down in history as the person who | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
helped legislate for zero emissions which is the ultimate backstop. When | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
I was Secretary of State, 80% was the ultimate backstop. Now we know | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
it must be zero emissions at some point. I will give way. I am | :28:13. | :28:20. | |
interested in his specific policies to tackle CO2 emissions. In the US, | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
fracking is credited by the IPCC as the principal reason why greenhouse | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
gases have been reduced. Is he supportive of shale gas exploration | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
in the UK? I am sceptical that it is a solution. We have to get to zero | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
carbon. It is true replacing coal with gas has helped to reduce our | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
emissions. I welcome the Secretary of State saying she will phase out | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
coal but that is not a long-term solution. What this agreement is | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
about is the end of fossil fuels. That is what it is about. CCS can | :28:59. | :29:05. | |
make a difference in terms of what it can do, but essentially, we are | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
transitioning to a world after fossil fuels. I will give way. Does | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
the right honourable gentleman not accept that if we are going to use | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
wind power and solar we will have to have CCS otherwise we will not be | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
able to match grid demand? I am afraid one of the other sorry sagas | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
is the CCS competition. This is a recipe for how not to make policy. | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
It was started, believe it or not, I think ten years ago by the Labour | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
government. I think it was started under Alistair Darling. I then | :29:43. | :29:45. | |
pushed it forward. This government have cancelled the competition, | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
restarted and cancelled it. I will come to that at the end. I will give | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
way. This has been an incredibly sorry saga but I don't think the | :29:57. | :30:00. | |
previous Labour government can have anything positive to say about CCS, | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
given how bad they treated it. I am not saying this is glorious for | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
anyone's point of view. What I put simply is a mechanism to provide | :30:12. | :30:18. | |
four projects. Then they cancelled that mechanism and then they said | :30:19. | :30:21. | |
there would be public funding and then they cancelled that competition | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
and then restarted the competition, etc. I think we can all agree it has | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
not been a glorious episode. The third reason, Madam Deputy | :30:32. | :30:36. | |
Speaker, why I think the world has changed, is the five-year ratchet | :30:37. | :30:39. | |
agreement. This is a mechanism to ratchet up ambition so that the | :30:40. | :30:43. | |
pledges the countries make meet the aspiration. At the moment, we have a | :30:44. | :30:50. | |
situation where we are saying 1.5 degrees but the pledge is out three | :30:51. | :30:53. | |
degrees. The EU said before the summit it wanted to have at least | :30:54. | :31:00. | |
40% reductions in emissions by 2030. At least, as I understand it, if | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
there was a stronger agreement, we would ratchet up the EU ambition. | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
The case I would make to the Secretary of State and the | :31:10. | :31:12. | |
Government is what is the mechanism to make that happen? The world has | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
changed, how are we going to ratchet up? Resident Holland said in his | :31:18. | :31:23. | |
closing remarks at the summit that he wanted to raise French ambition. | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
I want to hear how she thinks we can raise that ambition. There is a | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
fourth and final thing that has changed since Paris. That is about | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
the Secretary of State and her role in government. I want to say | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
something personal to her about this. I think the thing that has | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
changed after Paris is her negotiating power. Anyone who has | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
been a Secretary of State knows that not all the decisions go your way. | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
That is certainly true when I was Secretary of State as well. I'm sure | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
she has heard a number of times that she wanted a decision to go a | :32:04. | :32:06. | |
particular way but it went another way. Successful secretaries of State | :32:07. | :32:13. | |
recognise their power. I want to say to her, she is empowered by the | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
Paris agreement, because she is empowered by the agreement to tell | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
the Prime Minister that he can't just use words abroad and not follow | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
them through with deeds at home. She is empowered to tell the Chancellor | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
that British business is frankly furious at the neglect of a growing | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
and crucial sector of the economy. Above all, she is empowered to be | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
the champion of tackling climate change in the Cabinet. If she is | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
that champion, I think she will get support from all the sides of the | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
House that believe in these causes and will support her in her | :32:55. | :32:59. | |
endeavours. Whatever she does, we need to match, the high ambition | :33:00. | :33:06. | |
coalition with soaring Paris, with a high ambition coalition at home. | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
That high ambition coalition has got to combine trade unions, business, | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
civil society. I don't see Paris in any since the end. It is merely the | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
beginning but it gives us a new beginning on climate change. I think | :33:23. | :33:25. | |
in the interests of future generations we have to seize that | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
moment. Order. This is a short debate. Lots | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
of people want to speak so I have to put a time limit of five minutes. | :33:37. | :33:45. | |
James Heaton. Thank you for -- thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I'm going | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
to speak initially on flooding and if time allows, I will move on to | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
climate change. In Somerset, we are affected by both elements. We have | :33:57. | :33:59. | |
recent and painful experience of flooding and we have a well | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
developed energy industry with everything from Hinkley Point to | :34:04. | :34:07. | |
widespread deployment of solar, wind and anaerobic digester. It would be | :34:08. | :34:14. | |
better if we could harness the power of the Severn Estuary. After | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
speaking on our experience in Somerset at Flood Expo this year, | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
I've been visited by people from the Lincolnshire drainage board and the | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
NFU who were keen to discuss a one size fits all approach to flood | :34:31. | :34:34. | |
management. Cumbria will have its own circumstances, just a Somerset | :34:35. | :34:38. | |
is different from Lincolnshire, so I stress while I fully develop the | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
measures being developed in Somerset, some and not all will not | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
be applicable elsewhere. That said, the speed of the full spectrum | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
response in Cumbria indicate lessons have clearly been learned since our | :34:51. | :34:57. | |
floods in 2013-14. I congratulate the front bench for the speed of | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
that response and I commend the emergency services, Armed Forces and | :35:02. | :35:04. | |
volunteer groups who answered that call. I was disappointed to hear the | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
honourable member for Bristol East reflect in her opening speech that | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
the Government have not delivered on their commitment for the floods. | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
There are not many Southwest MPs on the benches opposite but she is one, | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
so she must know that there have been huge improvements made in our | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
region since those floods. Work on the great Western mainline at | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
Dawlish was completed within months of the floods, and the Peninsula | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
pass Grell force has since made clear its plans for improving | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
resilience both on the Somerset Levels and with a new line to open | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
north of Dartmoor. On the roads, work to improve culverts underneath | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
the M5 have been concluded and Somerset County Council has also | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
completed widespread improvements to the road network. There has been | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
significant in the structure in pumping, dredging and the sluice | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
network and Sedgemoor district county council push on with plans | :36:02. | :36:07. | |
for an advanced tidal barrier. There was public money for flood relief | :36:08. | :36:10. | |
for the villages which were impacted, and most importantly, | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
there is a scheme which will provide real peace of mind for those who | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
will be able to assure their homes. Above all of that, there is the | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
support for the Somerset Rivers authority which will be a very | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
welcome strategic authority looking after the interests of the county | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
when it comes to flood defence. All of this, Madam Deputy Speaker, is | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
happening just four junctions down the M5 from Bristol East, and I'm | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
sure that if the Shadow Secretary of State would like to see me and my | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
fellow MPs, and the leadership of Somerset district Council, we will | :36:47. | :36:49. | |
show just how much the Government has achieved in Somerset and how | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
much more the Government is yet to deliver -- Somersetshire county | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
council. I very much welcome the ?2.3 billion which will be invested | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
in flood defences over the next six years. On energy and climate change | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
in the very short time which remains, I would like to welcome the | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
Paris deal. The energy and climate change select committee, of which I | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
am a member, looks forward to discussing it with the Secretary of | :37:20. | :37:21. | |
State tomorrow. It is not perfect but it is a remarkable feat and I | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
congratulate the Government for the leading role they played in | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
brokering the deal. Meeting those targets from Paris will be | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
challenging, especially as we must concurrently ensure both security of | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
supply and keeping bills affordable. The programme for new nuclear power | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
will be very welcome in that, but I also congratulate the Government for | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
its an easy as for offshore wind, and the success in growing the solar | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
industry in recent years. However, I also appreciate that later in the | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
week, there may be changes in subsidy that could challenge that | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
industry. The industry protests very loudly, the Government says the | :38:03. | :38:05. | |
subsidy has become a crutch and it is now ready to go alone. I hope | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
very much that it is the Government that is right, because there are a | :38:11. | :38:13. | |
great deal of jobs in the solar industry in the south-west that I | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
would like to see continue. Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, I welcome very | :38:19. | :38:20. | |
much the announcement from Paris. The Government has a real challenge | :38:21. | :38:37. | |
to make sure we achieve the right domestic policies to achieve those | :38:38. | :38:39. | |
aims, while maintaining our security of supply and keeping bills down. | :38:40. | :38:42. | |
There are plenty of developments and my personal interest is in achieving | :38:43. | :38:44. | |
greater management of demand which I hope the Government will take | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
forward. Caroline Flint. Thank you, it is a | :38:48. | :38:54. | |
pleasure to follow the honourable member for Wales, but it is sad how | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
many members have had to talk about the impact of floods on the | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
communities they represent and it would be remiss if the discussion | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
today did not bear a thought for the people of Cumbria and across the UK | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
facing flooding and many facing Christmas away from their own homes. | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
In the latest committee on climate change report, the committee rated | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
planning for residual flood risk for properties at red, both in terms of | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
plans in place and actual progress. As the Secretary of State for the | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
environment, food and rural affairs has admitted, the models we are | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
currently using are in need of updating. Many people are sick and | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
tired of being told that the floods that wrecked their homes are one in | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
a hundred-year events, when the severe floods we have seen in the | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
last ten years suggests that such erratic weather will be far more | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
frequent than every century. If the Government or all of us learn | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
anything from this, and I hope we can work across the benches on these | :39:58. | :40:00. | |
issues, if in the past centuries these have been a poor guide, the | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
patterns of whether for future risk, we have got to make sure that the | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
new models we need to have going forward take this into account, or | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
they will lead to the public gaining false confidence from security. | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
Secondly, the Government must make sure it works across departments. It | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
is very worrying that the Secretary of State failed to answer what I | :40:25. | :40:27. | |
thought was a very common-sense question which is this: have you had | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
a discussion with the Chancellor about zones which they are fast | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
tracking for development? I believe we need more homes. Don't get me | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
wrong on that. But we really need to have a sense of joined up policy on | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
government if we are to make progress on housing but also | :40:47. | :40:49. | |
limiting the risk to our communities. I found it very | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
worrying that the Secretary of State failed to answer that question. | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
Perhaps the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in her | :41:00. | :41:01. | |
summing up could come back to that. I believe in that particular area, | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
as long climate change, that if we can find a better way to work | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
together, not saying there should not be scrutiny, that on these | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
benches I know we want to work with making the future better and more | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
secure and brighter for ourselves, but also in doing so can show | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
leadership in the world. That brings me to Paris. There are many positive | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
things which have come out of Paris. We still have an unprecedented | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
binding deal which aims to limit the temperature rise to be me 2 degrees | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
and make efforts to stay below 1.5 degrees and that is very welcome. | :41:38. | :41:41. | |
And the progress has been impressive. I have to commend the | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
right honourable lady for her work on this bill and our French | :41:47. | :41:49. | |
colleagues who, despite everything which has happened in France in | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
recent times, they managed to hold this vitally important conference | :41:55. | :41:57. | |
for the world and produced such a good result. | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
The UK's 2020 renewableable targets or carbon budget. As my honourable | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
friend said the Government's recent recess contained little help to get | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
threws. I want to see the UK develop a credible plan to deliver the 80% | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
reduction in emissions by 2050 that are ground-breaking climate change | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
act of 2008 requires, because it is important in of itself but is a | :42:25. | :42:27. | |
stepping stone, a foundation to move to net zero, as well. I would say | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
this in the time I have got left, which is limited, that net zero is a | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
huge ask. As Paris demonstrated, the world is a long way from that 2050 | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
aspiration. And even more for the net zero. We have got to begin work | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
on what a net zero and carbon society should require. We have to | :42:49. | :42:51. | |
look at the research, we have to engage the scientists and the | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
engineers to make this a reality. If I learned one thing from my time as | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, my job was not | :43:01. | :43:06. | |
just to talk to the converted, but to convince those who this is not | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
top of their agenda, it's a reality for them and something they feel | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
they can be part of and benefit from. Let's get down to the Prague | :43:13. | :43:21. | |
calmities and across this House make this happen -- practicalities. Thank | :43:22. | :43:29. | |
you. I don't have a direct constituency interest in this, I am | :43:30. | :43:32. | |
going to talk to Paris, it's a pleasure to follow the two speakers | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
that have spoken from the opposition so far on this. But I am afraid of | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
my analysis of Paris, much as I commend the Secretary of State for | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
the work she has done, is not quite as San Quinn as that we have heard | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
so far. First of all, I would say that the 2. 7% they say it adds up | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
to is not true. It's a somewhat dishonest analysis because it's only | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
based on the fact that it will be continued further in a way that | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
hasn't been committed to happen. But the fundamental point about Paris, | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
and the honourable lady that spoke called it a universally binding | :44:10. | :44:11. | |
agreement, it's not binding on anybody. That doesn't mean it's not | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
a good start and we have to start somewhere but the fundamental thing | :44:18. | :44:20. | |
about Paris is if the world had adopted the climate change act in | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
the way that the Shadow Secretary of State told the House it had a few | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
minutes ago, if the world had done that, we would be on track for a | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
1.5% reduction. The UNFCC says to get to 1.5% the world must reduce | :44:36. | :44:41. | |
carbon emissions by between 75 and 90%, the climate change act is 80%. | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
A fair challenge would be that developing countries find it much | :44:46. | :44:48. | |
harder to do that than developed countries, and I accept that. China | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
and India and these countries do need more slack so there is an | :44:53. | :44:55. | |
implication maybe we need to go further and that's where some of the | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
numbers the member for Dons caster North came from. I want to spend the | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
minutes available to me to analyse the performance of the developed | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
countries in Paris, in particular, the EU. One of the most startling | :45:11. | :45:18. | |
factors in terms of the INDC that went forth into the mix in Paris is | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
that the EU submission, which is 40% reduction over a period of 40%, 1% a | :45:25. | :45:32. | |
year, if you like in that period, is 33% slower than that implied or | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
demanded by the climate change act and the budgets that come from that. | :45:37. | :45:42. | |
33%. But that's not the whole of it. If you take the UK bit of that EU it | :45:43. | :45:52. | |
implies a rate of reduction between 40 and 45% slower than the UK. Now, | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
this is odd. What is it that they find so difficult about reducing | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
emissions that we apparently don't? Firstly I looked at possibility | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
parts of the EU are actually relatively developing, if you like, | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
to use that word, they've catch up to do in terms of GDP. If you look | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
at countries like Poland and Romania, it might be reasonable that | :46:17. | :46:19. | |
they get more slack. In fact, the truth of it is if you look at | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
countries like Romania, they've made the most rapid reductions, that's | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
not the issue. Romania has made reductions because the baseline | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
period of 1990s coincided with their industry being very heavy and needed | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
to be sorted out. The issue isn't there. The issue is in a developed | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
countries. The issue is in countries like Austria which since 1990 has | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
increased emissions by 20%. The issue is in countries like Ireland, | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
like Holland, like Spain, like Portugal. None of which have reduced | :46:55. | :47:04. | |
emissions at all since 1990. Now the House has been talking and has been | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
criticising the Secretary of State for lack of ambition. And yet we are | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
part of an EU submission to a global conference which puts up with that | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
kind of thing and the question I would ask the Secretary of State to | :47:20. | :47:22. | |
address is why it is that this can happen and what are the sanctions on | :47:23. | :47:28. | |
these countries within the EU, within that will stop that | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
happening? There is reasons. Some of these countries have banned nuclear. | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
Some of these countries have banned CCS, not invested in it, they ban | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
it, it's illegal in some countries. Germany CCS is illegal. They're | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
building unabated brand new coal-powered stations and have | :47:48. | :47:51. | |
emission that is are a hird higher than ours in terms of per... ... A | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
-- third. I wonder whether he could expand further on the points he is | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
making because I am finding it most interesting? | :48:03. | :48:03. | |
LAUGHTER He is always a team player. That | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
extra minute will be put to great use. I would just make the point, as | :48:09. | :48:17. | |
I was making, that the EU, taken collectively, without us in it, has | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
failed abysmally to put anything forward into Paris close to what the | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
member for Doncaster North was probably rightly saying we would | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
need to deliver to achieve 1.5%. We have to understand what the | :48:34. | :48:36. | |
sanctions are around that. The reasons for it are many and varied. | :48:37. | :48:42. | |
I think the EU got completely bogged down as members in this House do | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
sometimes about a fixation around renewables and renewables targets, | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
rather than a carbon reduction target and what that means is that | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
you put into place considerable renewables and continue to burn coal | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
at scale. The truth is actually replacing coal with gas globally if | :49:04. | :49:06. | |
you were able to do that would be equivalent to increasing the number | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
of renewables we have in the world by a factor of five. There's many | :49:11. | :49:13. | |
things like that. The fundamental point and it's one the Secretary of | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
State will have to address in her high ambition coalition, which | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
presumably hasn't got Austria in it, she will have to address this issue | :49:24. | :49:29. | |
in terms of making sure that there is some fairness because otherwise | :49:30. | :49:32. | |
places like Redcar, like Motherwell, will have to get used to what's | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
happened to them and that really isn't right. Thank you. Colleagues | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
on all sides of the House are rightly praising the Secretary of | :49:44. | :49:46. | |
State for her role in Paris. I haven't time to go into that in | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
great length, except to say that she did indeed play a blinder in Paris, | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
as this country did as a whole. However, it's very, very difficult | :49:58. | :50:00. | |
on the one hand to stack up signing an agreement in Paris and then on | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
the other hand slashing subsidies for renewables, ending the green | :50:07. | :50:09. | |
deal and privatising the green investment bank. The Secretary of | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
State if she will forgive me is the Jose Mourinho of environment | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
politics, woeful domesticically. Climate change is clearly not an | :50:21. | :50:27. | |
eterric matter. The reality throughout my constituency and other | :50:28. | :50:30. | |
places is a real one and the impact on families out of their homes at | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
Christmas, hundreds upon hundreds of children who do not - are not able | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
to look forward to Christmas at home is utterly and completely heart | :50:40. | :50:42. | |
breaking and I want us to think first and foremost about the human | :50:43. | :50:45. | |
cost and amongst the things I am seeking from this Government is | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
additional support for Cumbria, for health and social services to | :50:51. | :50:53. | |
support mental health provision, counselling for people in desperate | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
need. I want to praise the response, not just from the emergency | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
services, but Kendall cares, churches within the area, the | :51:05. | :51:07. | |
response has reassured you about human nature in many respects as | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
people who have lost almost everything went next door to help | :51:11. | :51:13. | |
people who lost absolutely everything. Look, the scale needs to | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
be put in a numerical sense I guess, it was reckoned the cost to Cumbria | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
is ?500 million of these floods. Therefore, the Government support of | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
?50 million is welcome. It's clearly nowhere near enough. I want in the | :51:30. | :51:32. | |
few moments I have available to me to set out why we need additional | :51:33. | :51:36. | |
support and indeed to ask for it. There will be some who will dismiss | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
people who are uninsured and underinshired and call them | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
feckless, they're not, they're feckless, they're not, they're | :51:47. | :51:50. | |
penniness. They couldn't afford insurance or it was cheap and | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
inadequate. Many people couldn't get coverage in the first place. For ?5 | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
hundred in the Cumbria foundation is welcome and I praise them but ?500 | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
will not get you far if you consider what you would lose if your ground | :52:06. | :52:09. | |
floor flooded, all the white goods. We need support for that ?50 to be | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
increased by a significant amount. -- ?500. What is promised is for | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
flood prevention in the future, not to help people who have lost | :52:22. | :52:23. | |
significant amounts of money right now. That money should be delivered | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
to people in Cumbria right away and directly. I want to reit ray might | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
comment about the A 591. Those who heard the Secretary of State for | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
Defra talk about being passable by a 4x4, I was there yesterday, you can | :52:39. | :52:41. | |
just about pass it on a pike, it's not true. I happily give way. -- on | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
a bike. Would he agree that actually in the | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
long run the investment and renewable of our infrastructure in | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
Cumbria, like the 591 and the bridge beyond that, our road infrastructure | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
must be one of the priorities in Cumbria. He is doing an excellent | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
job for his constituents in Carlisle. He is right the investment | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
now will help the County in the long run. I would like to ask the | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
Government to invest in making sure the A 591 is open in weeks, not | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
months. I want to point out that there is a plan on the table from | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
Cumbria tourism that the Government needs to provide funding for right | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
now, a short-term immediate, like today, strategy to boost the economy | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
up to Christmas in the marketing campaign and a meddup term campaign | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
that they need to fund to make sure we back on our feet there. Are other | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
parts of the Lake District hit, one village cut in two by the closure of | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
its bridge, we need support for that to happen, again in weeks and not in | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
months. Like wooifz a bridge that connects two communities is closed | :53:51. | :53:53. | |
again and needs to be invested in straightaway to make sure it's | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
reopened. It's very important that people get the message and the | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
Government gets out the message that Cumbria is open for business. I was | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
in Grasmere yesterday, I can't think of a more quiet place, people are | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
not going there because they think it's closed, it's not. May the | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
Government get out the message that is what people need to do. A quick | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
note about farmers. I am very concerned that the Government is | :54:20. | :54:23. | |
planning to close the valley pumps in June, I was there yesterday, we | :54:24. | :54:26. | |
cannot allow that to happen. Will they commit to funding them in the | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
future beyond the end of June? Will they also commit to help farmers who | :54:31. | :54:33. | |
have lost stock in tragic circumstances up and down the | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
County? And recognise that much of the funding that goes into, for | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
example, keeping the valley dry is about protecting infrastructure as | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
the honourable member for Carlisle mentioned, the A 590 is often | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
flooded as a consequence of that farmland not being drained and those | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
pumps are important for infrastructure also. I want to make | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
a final point about the long-termism needed here. We often hear the frame | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
long-term economic plan and so on. The problem is that we had an autumn | :55:07. | :55:09. | |
statement recently where the Chancellor pulled out of his hat | :55:10. | :55:15. | |
lots of white rabbits, but none were for energy or climate change or | :55:16. | :55:20. | |
Defra, the departments we need to be in the front line to protect people. | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
We have local authorities, SLDCs, Cumbria County and others working | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
very hard and doing a good job with about 20% less people and less | :55:31. | :55:33. | |
resources than they had six years ago. It's vital this Government | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
commits to the ?500 million that Price Waterhouse has identifieded so | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
that we can rebuild our communities, support damaged people and | :55:45. | :55:46. | |
communities and get back people back in their homes and do so quickly. | :55:47. | :55:54. | |
Thank you, you got me out there. I am standing up today really to speak | :55:55. | :56:03. | |
about, first of all we have some praise for this historic agreement | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
that was made in Paris and I do commend my honourable friend, the | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
Secretary of State and also the home team sat on the benches for all of | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
the work in the past. We also have commiserations because of all those | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
poor people suffering from flooding and we are dealing with all of these | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
things into day's motion. I need to speak, coming from some sort -- | :56:28. | :56:34. | |
Somerset, like my honourable friend, about the flooding from December | :56:35. | :56:46. | |
2012 to January 2014, so I can see a device with people people of | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
Cumbria. In Somerset, the devastation was enormous. It cost | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
businesses ?47 million, they reckon, as a knock-on effect. It affected | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
half of all businesses in Somerset, even the ones that weren't flooded | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
because of road closures. It was a one in 100 event. It was not exactly | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
expected and it was not just a result of not dredging rivers. That | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
was one of the things that made it happen because actually, the rivers | :57:18. | :57:20. | |
had not been dredged during the 1990s. I do have to do a level that | :57:21. | :57:27. | |
over to the Labour Party because that is when the dredging stop. That | :57:28. | :57:34. | |
was not the only cause, there were many other things including | :57:35. | :57:36. | |
increased run off from the urban areas. Whether this extreme flooding | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
was to do with climate change or not, that is still debatable, what | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
is still clear is that we have to be prepared for these events. In | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
Somerset, as we mentioned before, I am very pleased that the programme | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
has been put in place with the Somerset Rivers Authority to set a | :57:58. | :58:04. | |
preset that everyone in Somerset will be affected and it will deal | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
with tackling flooding in the future. 15 and a half million pounds | :58:10. | :58:16. | |
will be spent on flood defences in Somerset, defending thousands of | :58:17. | :58:24. | |
properties, and 35 ?9 until 2021. They are taking flooding extremely | :58:25. | :58:38. | |
seriously. -- 350 ?9 million. I wonder if the secretary will join | :58:39. | :58:45. | |
me. Ayes I do thank my honourable friend because in only with in | :58:46. | :58:49. | |
Paris. I will mention it now, it is one of the really crucial thing | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
about this debate and no one has mentioned so far, is the investment | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
in science and technology to guarantee all of these commitments | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
and get to these ego rating. We can do it. I am absolutely sure with our | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
brains and our scientists that we can do it. The investment in | :59:06. | :59:10. | |
flooding that we are putting in is very well spent. For every pound | :59:11. | :59:17. | |
they put into flooding, it gives 14 Helen -- 40 ?9 million benefits. | :59:18. | :59:27. | |
With my agricultural act on, I did just want to highlight a view of the | :59:28. | :59:30. | |
things and here I have some agreement with the honourable member | :59:31. | :59:35. | |
from Bristol-based because they are many other things we can do to help. | :59:36. | :59:49. | |
The wider catch approach with water or that goes into our rivers. In my | :59:50. | :59:52. | |
friend from the select committee will agree. They aim to plant one | :59:53. | :00:03. | |
planned for -- 13 for every five people. That will help slow the flow | :00:04. | :00:13. | |
of water. Storage areas, higher in the valleys, is stop the water | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
coming down very quickly. All of these things ought to be included | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
and I will put my usual call in for more grass. Grass is the way | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
forward. Grass in the water, grass in the economy, suppressed carbon, I | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
look at the Minister to work more closely at the grass in our | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
policies. You may laugh about black, but it is serious. It is the way | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
forward and it will help manage the countryside. I am going to commend | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
the Government on everything they are doing because we are making a | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
mint steps forward and making this ambitious global deal possible. We | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
are moving in the right direction and as much to do. If we are going | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
to meet a zero carbon emissions, that is a really testing... I would | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
be delighted to give way to my honourable friend from our course | :01:06. | :01:16. | |
details. We only have to say that across Devon and the West Country, | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
the amount of solar panels in the fields. They were there for the last | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
governments. They have only just been put there recently. My | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
honourable friend makes a great point. We have made great progress. | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
16% of energy comes from renewables and also because of steps this | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
Government has made. People are still buying into renewables and it | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
has got cheaper. The cost of panels have come down and that is likely | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
have to remove subsidies and put the subsidies where we can have more | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
energy from other sources added a bit of egos. I am right the | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
secretary of state for energy on that. -- a bit of a boost. We do | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
need to lead by example. We need to continue to do so. I am a great | :02:02. | :02:09. | |
environmentalist but we have to do it within the constraints of the | :02:10. | :02:11. | |
economy. That is something this Government is dealing with at all | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
costs. We have a debt, we are still paying off all of the legacy that | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
was left over. We have to be realistic about what we are doing in | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
me to provide energy within this whole situation to the lowest course | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
at the taxpayer. Whatever they do, that has to be a balance. I am just | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
going to say a big applause to the Government for getting rid of | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
coal-fired power stations. It was one single thing you could do, it | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
was that. Applause for Hinkley point right in my constituency. That was | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
the best thing you could possibly think of. I will wind up by saying | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
that we can all do our own bit at home. We can all also bought local | :02:57. | :03:09. | |
produce, region by our own food, we can save energy at home, we buy into | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
this whole thing and we have to do it internationally across the world | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
and we have to do in our own homes. Thank you. Before I start, I would | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
like to apologise for being absent from this place during last week. I | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
am sure honourable members are aware of the devastating floods that we | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
have had in Cumbria. It has been discussed during this debate. I felt | :03:39. | :03:46. | |
that I should stay in my constituency to visit and support as | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
many people and businesses as possible. I welcome the secretary of | :03:50. | :04:00. | |
state's statement during business questions that she intends to visit | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
Cockermouth on Tuesday. I hope members will indulge me if I take | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
from the heart about one of the events of the last ten days. On | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
Sunday morning, nine days ago, I stood with shopkeepers and residents | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
shocked and horrified at seeing Cockermouth Main Street underwater | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
again. After only six years. Every member here will have a high Street. | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
Can you imagine standing at the end of that high Street with shopkeepers | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
and that whole high-street top to bottom is underwater? It is | :04:38. | :04:46. | |
shocking. After the water subsided, over the coming days, we were able | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
to assess the damage. Flooding is not just about water, although it is | :04:53. | :05:00. | |
talked about being about water, the water is incredibly powerful and, in | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
Cumbria, it rolls down Phelps. It carries everything in it pass. - in | :05:06. | :05:17. | |
its path. Lastly, I stood in the village of flame me -- fling the | :05:18. | :05:29. | |
with a family who had lost everything. I stood in hallways that | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
stank of diesel oil. I think families in Worthington throw | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
Christmas trees into skips. I visited flooded schools and went | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
into the county see more damage. Parents are telling me their | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
children are too frightened to go to sleep in case it happened again. | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
They are frightened of the rain. It is heartbreaking. Our community is | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
resilient. It has pulled together in an extraordinary way and I want to | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
pay tribute to the local councils, the emergency services, Coast Guard, | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
mountain rescue, supermarket to gay free food, community centres, so | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
very many volunteers from churches of Christianity to Muslims. I want | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
to thank everyone for their generosity from right across the | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
country who have given money to the Cumbrian Community Foundation. We | :06:33. | :06:41. | |
have some flats were elderly residents were trapped upstairs. 30 | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
forums and could not get out. They had no power, water or food. This | :06:45. | :06:52. | |
man crawled through to give them the support they needed with porches and | :06:53. | :07:01. | |
food. One family told me that they had bought their home because they | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
thought the previous ones were a one off event. They fought the floods | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
were not press it ended. We have to stop using this language. -- | :07:10. | :07:18. | |
unprecedented. They did what they were designed to do and they did | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
make a big difference in some areas. That is little comfort to the many | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
people have been made homeless just before Christmas. What do you need | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
to do? I welcome the Government's announcement with the Cumbria Floods | :07:33. | :07:42. | |
Partnership Group, because they have great experience to bring and I want | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
to thank the honourable member for Penrith and the Borders for coming | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
to Cumbria. Will you give way? I will. Actually, she makes a very | :07:55. | :08:04. | |
powerful speech I thought I would like to continue and intervene. | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
Thank you. The Government has said it will find more defensive as the | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
honourable friend next to me has mentioned. The Cumbrians alone at | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
home have a set of five hundred million pounds and there has been a | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
discussion of building firewalls. If you are not careful, we will build | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
high defences in one place, projecting that, and forget about | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
others. We have to think about Bridges as well. The great in | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
Cockermouth ended up being a dam. We need to get planning. It has already | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
been said that is too much concentration on flood plains. I | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
call for a complete ban on housing in the west Country flood plains. I | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
want to finish talking about insurance. Time and time again, | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
residents told me, after the floods of 2009, they were either unable to | :09:10. | :09:17. | |
get household as unions -- insulins or it had huge excesses. Now they | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
cannot sell their homes. I thank my honourable friend for making such | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
powerful speeches. I am sure this also applies to many small local | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
businesses who cannot afford premiums. Thank you. That is an | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
important friend Jimmy and I thank my friend back from eating it. -- | :09:39. | :09:46. | |
that is an important point to make and I thank my honourable friend for | :09:47. | :09:55. | |
making it. There are some streets and premises that might as well be | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
demolished. One person asked if they might as will not down your house | :10:02. | :10:11. | |
and start over because the devastation was that bad. Many | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
hard-working and decent people have lost, not just the content of their | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
homes, but the cars and their livelihoods. We were told that the | :10:21. | :10:27. | |
answers were there after the last flight but it has been no good to my | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
constituents today. It will not come into next year, it is arbitrary and | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
it does not cover properties built after 2009, even those built on | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
flood plains. It does not cover businesses. Insurance companies are | :10:42. | :10:48. | |
refusing to pay for resilience measures. My constituency need help | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
now. They need it quickly. Climate change is here. It can be seen in | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
Cumbria and we need a Government who are serious with a long-term | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
strategy to prevent this from happening again and we need the | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
money and resources to make it happen. | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
I would like to remind the House that the rules of interventions are | :11:12. | :11:20. | |
there to allow debate to happen. It is right to intervene and it is a | :11:21. | :11:23. | |
great compliment to certain members to be complemented by senior members | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
of their party. That has happened to a degree on both sides of the House | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
this afternoon. I would remind the House that when the clock adds an | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
extra minute for intervention, it does not add minimum minutes to be | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
day and it does not add more minutes to the debate. What it will mean is | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
someone who is less fortunate in their placing on the list will speak | :11:53. | :12:00. | |
for less time. I appreciate that are many people that members would like | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
to speak for less time and many B would like to speak for more time | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
but one has to be careful how that is managed. | :12:07. | :12:15. | |
I am not sure which category I fall into. I suspect I know. Can I begin | :12:16. | :12:22. | |
by expressing my sympathy to be victims of floods. And to all those | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
who have helped with the clean up. Can I take issue with the idea that | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
all of this has been caused as a result of climate change. I think it | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
is unfortunate that the two issues have been mixed up. The reality is | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
we have had very few debates about global warming and climate change. | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
Climate change has been with us since the earth was created. I would | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
urge the Minister to ask questions to those who are showing hysteria | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
about the issue of climate change. We know over 2000 years there have | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
been periods of warming and cooling. It was warmer during the Roman | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
period. It was cooler during the dark ages. It then got cooler again | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
to about 1680 during the so-called ice age. How much of the very small | :13:18. | :13:25. | |
amount of warming that has taken place over the last two centuries, | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
zero point eight degrees. How much of that is down to man-made carbon | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
emissions and how much is down to completely natural factors. I have | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
asked the question on many occasions and nobody has been able to give me | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
an answer. I will happily give way. 95% of climate science and tests to | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
be max I entered is seem to suggest man-made climate change is the | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
problem. Many of us would like my honourable friend to be right in his | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
scepticism because that will mean everything would be OK. 95% of | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
climate scientists disagree with him. Can I take issue with my | :14:11. | :14:18. | |
honourable friend? This 95% figure is floated around rather a lot. It | :14:19. | :14:28. | |
comes from a survey which was set up from 257 potential respondents. Only | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
77 responded and 75 responded and said it was all down to man. If any | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
other honourable members know where that came from, they are welcome to | :14:41. | :14:48. | |
let me my normal no. They have put out some misleading statements as | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
well. They said it is extremely likely that more than half of the | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
increase in global temperatures from 1951 was caused by man. Out of that | :15:01. | :15:08. | |
not .8 figure, not .5 comes from the second half of the 20th century. If | :15:09. | :15:15. | |
they are correct then just over 0.25 out of 0.28 is due to man. That | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
means the rest of it is due to other more natural factors. The honourable | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
lady may wish to ask about is the lack of form correlation between the | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
increases in temperature and the increases in carbon emissions. Over | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
the last 200 years there has been a sharp increase in CO2 that there has | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
not been a sharp increase in temperatures. They were going down | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
between, I mean going up between 1940 and 1977. Leading many to think | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
we were on the brink of another ice age. From the mid-70s to 1997 | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
temperatures were rising as well as carbon emissions. From 1997 until | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
now there has been a sharp increase in CO2 but no increase in | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
temperatures. Another question is why that is so. I have had meetings | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
with the Royal Society and I asked this question to the lead offers | :16:22. | :16:29. | |
that was held in public. I asked him why is it that there has been no | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
increase in temperatures? He said it was statistically insignificant. | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
That is a fair comment. He was not trying to see it was the oceans or | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
the volcanoes. He said it was statistically insignificant. He may | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
have a point about that. If the last 17 years with no increase in | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
temperature is statistically insignificant. Why are the 27 years | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
before that with an increase in temperature is so significant that | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
we have to go ahead with policies that are going to have a massive | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
impact in homeowners and businesses in the UK? I do not think anyone is | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
going to be kind enough to intervene on me. I have been waiting. I give | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
way to the honourable gentleman because I always prefer the | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
opposition. It is more fun. I recall appreciate scepticism. I am sure his | :17:28. | :17:35. | |
scepticism is sincere but the problem is if he spreads this | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
nonsense, you give an excuse to people not to take action. It gives | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
comfort to those who want to do nothing about what is the biggest | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
challenge facing humanity. I appreciate his kind words. I am just | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
trying to raise questions. If you want me to go to my constituents and | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
tried to sell policies that are going to push at their energy bills | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
and make it more likely that some of them are out of work, only to have | :18:04. | :18:11. | |
actions answers to the questions. Why is a low correlation over the | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
last few hundred years. What is just down to natural factors? I will give | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
way any moment. Why is it that of the CO2 that has gone into the | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
atmosphere, why is less than 5% man-made anyway? Most of it is | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
generated naturally from the Earth and the sea. We can all talk in | :18:35. | :18:43. | |
different debates and different views but that is no consolation to | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
people in Cumbria. The people of Cumbria wants to know when the | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
insurance companies will pay up. The people in Cumbria are right to know | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
that that they should not have the issue of flooding blamed on | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
something which is unproven. When the impact of the changes we are | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
going to make is going to affect the whole of the UK. Honourable members | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
opposite at the first to complain of policies that have pushed up energy | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
prices and made it harder for steel manufacturers to make a profit. Some | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
have closed down recently partly due to be high energy costs. I would say | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
to the honourable lady, the people opposite are not going to support | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
her policies if the lead to an increase in energy prices. She will | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
be attacks from the members opposite when fuel poverty happens. The aid | :19:37. | :19:46. | |
agencies talk about living standards in the third World, in actual fact | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
they are making it harder for African villages to get access to | :19:51. | :19:58. | |
cheap call. They talk about wanting more wind power that they are | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
opposed to fracking for gas, which is necessary if we want to have | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
nuclear energy. They are inconsistencies and an answer | :20:10. | :20:11. | |
questions. I ask the honourable lady to answer them. Given the recent | :20:12. | :20:18. | |
controversies the way I have addressed the members of the House, | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
that speech was enthusiastic and make no reference to any of its | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
content. I want to express my solidarity with the... On behalf of | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
my constituents and the people of Cumbria and other areas for the | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
dreadful situation that they have been in over the last week. I want | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
to pay my respects and thanks to the men may agencies -- many agencies | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
who have pulled out all the stops to help people in this difficult time. | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
To community organisations, to individual members of the community | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
who have pulled together. I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to | :21:08. | :21:19. | |
my fellow parliamentarians, amongst my honourable friend to give a | :21:20. | :21:21. | |
magnificent speech. She is doing a magnificent speech. She is doing a | :21:22. | :21:23. | |
wonderful job for her constituents at this terrible time. Despite | :21:24. | :21:34. | |
really challenging conditions they read you managed to keep | :21:35. | :21:36. | |
broadcasting and emergency services during this situation. We debates on | :21:37. | :21:47. | |
responsibility and fault in the past is valid, it helps us to understand | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
what has gone wrong in terms of public policy and what has worked. | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
It only goes so far. It is really important that our focus in this | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
House is on the future on what has been deficient and what can be done | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
in the future to make it better. In that sense, I do hope the Ministers | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
on the bench opposite will have the courage to look at this and assess | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
this issue dispassionately and where they can identify genuine genuinely | :22:24. | :22:33. | |
they will take the difficult steps of arguing with their colleagues to | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
put it right in the future. The all it to the people of England and the | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
south-west to our suffering so badly and the whole country to make sure | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
this is recognised. It is not going to be won in 100 years. It is not | :22:49. | :22:58. | |
good if we are coming to that description, given the prevalence of | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
this in recent years. I want to use the remaining part of most beach -- | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
speech to talk about issues in my area. About what happens next. First | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
of all in transport links. The people in my constituency were very | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
fortunate this time unlike in 2009 when we were badly hit by floods. | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
There are still some areas that are suffering from the six-year long | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
process to try and get back on their feet and the difficulty of getting | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
insurance. We were hit by the transport links where both the roads | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
going out both ends of the constituency were flooded and an | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
passable. This is an all too frequent occurrence in the area. Not | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
simply for adverse weather conditions for accidents. I would | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
urge the Environment Secretary to speak to the Transport Secretary | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
Andrew agreed to a reassessment of the a 590. To push anti-flooding | :24:07. | :24:16. | |
measures up the agenda. This is very needed and it could be genuinely a | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
matter of life and death given the vital health services we have two | :24:24. | :24:32. | |
addax is too. I would use the speech to call on the District Council to | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
reopen the issue of building on flood planes. They have set their | :24:36. | :24:45. | |
face against a reassessment. This must surely lead them to have the | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
courage to think again. Finally, I want to add weight to the message | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
first given by my honourable friend. I have been contacted by the brink | :24:59. | :25:09. | |
company passing on... This is a vital time. It remains open for | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
business and that message should go out loud and clear. | :25:15. | :25:30. | |
Does the five-year average global temperatures and Emile ten warmest | :25:31. | :26:01. | |
years on record. I just wondered... Just wonder if it all wrong about | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
that as the leader of Met Office. -- if he is wrong. I do have another | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
minute so I appreciate that. There is also an increase in extreme | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
weather events in 19th century. We have all seen the terrible scenes | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
for for homes, businesses and farmers. The devastation as water | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
recedes. In my constituency, the town of Pickering suffered a | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
devastating floods four times in ten years. The secretary of state did | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
join me in opening an innovative scheme at Pickering which other | :26:39. | :26:51. | |
members, mentioned. Planting 60,000 trees. Restoring wetlands, all of | :26:52. | :26:59. | |
which will help matters upstream and I would urge the Secretary of State | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
to look at this as a model moving forward. Our TV screens over recent | :27:03. | :27:10. | |
weeks have been dominated by the fall of migrants across continents | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
and perhaps this is a warning of much greater population booms ahead | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
if we do not tackle climate change. It is the threat to our lives, our | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
livelihoods and also to national security and global security. And | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
economic security. I welcome the Secretary of State's effort in Paris | :27:29. | :27:36. | |
to get together 119 nations to a single agreement. There are | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
difficult races ahead and I do not envy ministers are to make such | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
tough decisions. Many years in advance and admits the tough voices | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
and choices. Credit credit is due, in the UK has a proud record on | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
climate change and we are number two in the performance index, only | :28:01. | :28:07. | |
behind Denmark. Lady Hynde -- way in front of most other Western | :28:08. | :28:15. | |
countries. We travelled renewable energy production to 19% but we have | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
much more to do. The energy performance of our housing has to be | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
improved. We have two replays the complex defunct green deal. -- have | :28:31. | :28:40. | |
two replays. I thank my honourable friend for giving way. When we talk | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
about insulating homes, I think we can do a lot more with solid wall | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
properties. It is much easier than in Google areas. -- rule areas. | :28:51. | :29:05. | |
Because of the demographic in our housing stock, we have some of the | :29:06. | :29:08. | |
worst in Europe. We must also be pragmatic. Only 7% of our energy | :29:09. | :29:15. | |
today comes from renewables. Fossil fuels will be part of the mix for | :29:16. | :29:26. | |
the foreseeable future. We are only for meals away from anarchy. We are | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
probably only true dark days Andrew dark night away from anarchy. We | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
have to keep the lights on. Fossil fuels are the way to do that for the | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
foreseeable future. Thank you. The has to be an understanding here that | :29:42. | :29:48. | |
shale gas, natural gas is fossil fuel. If we continue to burn to | :29:49. | :29:55. | |
replace coal-fired power stations, we will never hit the limits which | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
we have just agreed in Paris only a week ago. I will come to that point | :30:01. | :30:07. | |
shortly. If we look at the USA, they are the second biggest emitters of | :30:08. | :30:14. | |
CO2. They have made great progress on climate change and the important | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
reason for this is the reduction of greenhouse gas in the United States | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
and the CO2 production of shale gas. Environmental campaigners such as | :30:24. | :30:34. | |
Stephen Tindale and Baroness Wellington have expressed a support | :30:35. | :30:46. | |
for fracking. There is a shale gas application in my constituency and, | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
having heard both sides of the debate after many months, I decided | :30:52. | :30:54. | |
to visit Pennsylvania receiver fracking had happened and see | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
whether it is possible to do it safely and if it is possible to do | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
it in a way that does not industrialise the countryside. I | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
believe that is possible. We need to paint the picture for local people | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
to shoulder that it is possible -- show them that it is possible. I | :31:13. | :31:24. | |
think we are losing the PR fight and people fail to understand that | :31:25. | :31:26. | |
fossil fuels have to still be part of the mix. I believe we need a lead | :31:27. | :31:34. | |
agency. We need independent regulations and we also need a local | :31:35. | :31:41. | |
plan so residents can see how it will change and how it will not | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
change. In my constituency, there are only ten conventional gas well | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
sites. Most residents do not even know where they are. Not only do we | :31:50. | :32:01. | |
need ten more sites, but 950 Wells, which scares people. There is a | :32:02. | :32:10. | |
great amount of impact in poultry farms. Much more than just a well | :32:11. | :32:16. | |
sites. Most people see that this will not change countryside and it | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
can be done safely, but we must proceed cautiously and make sure | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
that we win the argument and reduce the evidence and make sure that the | :32:25. | :32:36. | |
public have all access to that site. We need to show people how much is | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
possible to do this to move a much cleaner source of fossil fuels. We | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
need to provide an important bridge to a carbon free future. My | :32:46. | :32:55. | |
prediction about time not standing still has come to pass. We have to | :32:56. | :33:03. | |
reduce the time when 24 minutes. -- reduce it to four minutes. We have | :33:04. | :33:12. | |
seen much devastation at this time of year, much more so than usual. We | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
have held a number of eloquent speeches around the devastation that | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
has rocked many places but we also need to render that we are in the | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
fortunate position as a rich, and nation that he can afford to | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
rebuild, we house and protect those affected. Other parts of the world | :33:32. | :33:40. | |
will not be so fortunate. For me, the standout part of the Paris | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
agreement is that $100 billion for mitigation in terms of climate | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
change to allow other nations the access to the finance they need to | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
develop in a way that allows them to be protected. It will give us an | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
opportunity to lock in carbon emissions without locking in poverty | :34:02. | :34:04. | |
and that has to be fundamental to the way in which we deal with this. | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
What has rightly been described as the greatest threat facing humanity | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
today. We have heard from my colleague in the Scottish Borders | :34:14. | :34:20. | |
about the Scottish Climate Justice Fund. That is something as a party | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
that they are rightly proud. This is not a devolved matter but we have | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
put our money where our mouth is. That money has to be seen as | :34:32. | :34:36. | |
additional contribution. It cannot be put into the pot ordered out of | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
the pot because of what we have done. -- or taken out. We have had | :34:41. | :34:49. | |
many debates in this place as many conversations about the changes that | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
need to be made to renewables and the Green economy more widely. It | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
disappoints me to say that our target in Scotland of 100% of our | :35:00. | :35:02. | |
electricity generation are under threat because of the changes to | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
contracts for difference. We have seen much slower progress around our | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
feet which is maybe bigger challenge. -- our heating. ?700 | :35:14. | :35:24. | |
million has been taken out and, in the context of what we are dealing | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
with falling Paris, sitting like another short sighted move. Speaking | :35:29. | :35:34. | |
of which, carbon capture storage. You may have held about this, I will | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
continue to go on about it, I will continue to ban this blog. This is | :35:40. | :35:47. | |
one of the worst decisions. We need to put this in. We are speaking | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
about spending billions and billions of pounds preventing the symptoms | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
but not tackling the queue. -- the queue. It is potentially a game | :35:59. | :36:07. | |
changer. It is the most straightforward way. It is the least | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
impactful on our economic model if we are to use carbon capture | :36:13. | :36:15. | |
storage. If Ally was asked to extract the fossil fuels that we | :36:16. | :36:23. | |
extract. Its allies to do so without having to invest. We will still have | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
to invest in other technologies but it gives us the opportunity... I | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
certainly will. Does he share with the accents of... | :36:33. | :36:48. | |
INAUDIBLE New rule for our future. ?1 billion. | :36:49. | :36:55. | |
Comedy of the blackest sort would be my response to that. It is | :36:56. | :36:58. | |
short-sighted and does not take into account how we can target industry | :36:59. | :37:06. | |
and reduction. The reaction your full is very short of the rhetoric. | :37:07. | :37:13. | |
The action falls very short of what is required to deliver and protect | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
those people both at home and abroad from climate change. We need to up | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
our game. It is time to reset the reset. We want to match the | :37:23. | :37:32. | |
Doncaster North MP's high ambition and the SNP are more than willing to | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
play our part in achieving that. Thank you. Can I start associating | :37:36. | :37:46. | |
my friends with everyone who has expressed compassion for the victims | :37:47. | :37:55. | |
of the floods. I would also like to commend the earlier speech and say | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
that I could envision myself at the bottom of my high street with those | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
shopkeepers. I want to speak about the environmental threats that this | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
country faces but I do not appreciate the threat to hang this | :38:10. | :38:12. | |
is that the member from the SNP raised earlier. -- haggis. Members | :38:13. | :38:24. | |
of the judiciary and academic community, the business and society | :38:25. | :38:27. | |
all gathered to discuss the challenges in Paris in the post-2015 | :38:28. | :38:41. | |
agenda. The president of France, the head of the environment programme, | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
and contributions from legislators around the world. It was a | :38:47. | :38:55. | |
cross-party effort from across the UK. I wondered if, when summing up | :38:56. | :39:06. | |
the secretary of state's statement, we can add to that debate. I feel | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
like it was one of a cross-party support and consensus for the | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
ambitious deal in Paris. I think there is such a strong delegation | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
from the UK and that is vital. I would like to pay tribute to my | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
honourable friend who dealt with it so ably. Despite all these attempts | :39:26. | :39:37. | |
to cut greenhouse gas, that will limit the global average | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
temperature, it is historic. I do believe that the cost of an action | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
is -- inaction on climate change will do more to shift the balance of | :39:47. | :40:05. | |
is a lie. -- in this life. We want to ensure that necessary action is | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
being taken to tackle climate change. I think the country has | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
legally obliged to try to reduce emissions every five years until | :40:14. | :40:21. | |
2025 and I want to welcome the billion-dollar fund to help | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
developing nations decarbonise the energy mix. We also wanted and | :40:25. | :40:31. | |
edition from burning fossil fuels. It is clear that, going forward in | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
the UK, decolonisation will have to be a key part of our fiscal policy | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
and lip service will not be enough going for the Secretary of State | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
agreeing with me here on that point. I am very grateful. You are making | :40:48. | :40:50. | |
some powerful point about the climate change | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
Does he agree with me that is incredibly important that the plan | :40:55. | :41:05. | |
is published, which would be on top of local flood resilience plans. We | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
both know the terrible effect flooding has had in our local areas. | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
I thank my honourable friend from that point. I agree with him on the | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
importance of that and will do everything to do to work with him on | :41:20. | :41:27. | |
that going forward. During the conference is she said she would do | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
anything to assure that deal. Can I commend her for playing such a | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
successful role in the negotiation. It is a long-term goal of zero | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
emissions by the end of the century. The deal represents a huge step | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
forward in securing the future of our planet. It is a privilege to | :41:49. | :41:57. | |
speak in this debate and to follow the honourable member. He is a | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
fellow member of the environment audit select committee. It is the | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
leadership that has been shown in terms of the negotiations, not just | :42:09. | :42:11. | |
by the Right Honourable member opposite, but by the whole team. I | :42:12. | :42:24. | |
met my honourable friend to... Outcome is good. I'm sure they will | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
agree with me that the outcome is nothing unless we rise to the | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
challenge. We are looking at 3.5, 3.7 degrees based on a current | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
trajectory on global warming. If all of the actions are delivered, may | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
take us down to 2.5. It may take us down to that aspiration of 1.5 if we | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
wrapped it up every year. The scale of this transition is huge. We | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
cannot base it on the plans we currently have. The leadership that | :42:58. | :43:00. | |
has been shown should be commended. We need that leadership to purple | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
charge what we do here in the UK. But also in international | :43:06. | :43:16. | |
negotiations as well. In areas of flooding in Wales and Northern | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
Ireland or from the words of my honourable friend. I was there just | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
a few years ago when we thought it was the worst flooding we had ever | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
seen. That came on the back of the 2005 floods. Back in 2009 there were | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
over 2200 properties affected. 25 bridges closed, waste treatment | :43:41. | :43:48. | |
works, 40 of them were closed down. Here we are again. In answer to my | :43:49. | :43:56. | |
honourable friend, he is wrong. He is completely wrong. This is not an | :43:57. | :44:03. | |
issue of climate change. Whether it is the issues in Cumbria, Northern | :44:04. | :44:11. | |
Ireland, Bangladesh, this is a pattern of climate change that is an | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
arguable and we need to rise to deal with it. In the short time available | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
I would simply say to the UK Government as the go forward on | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
this, we do need to have a step change now in light of the Paris | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
commitments. If we are going to make them work and go further. It does | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
require going further on the international stage. I would urge | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
the Minister and go back and look at what we are doing at the EU level | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
and whether we are being ambitious enough. In terms of this country, | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
the Right Honourable lady herself has admitted at the moment we have a | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
policy vacuum. Whether it is on the closure of various schemes. We have | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
a policy vacuum. Whether it is in energy efficiency in homes, the type | :45:05. | :45:13. | |
of green energy we do, in demand reduction, in residential commercial | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
properties, all of those aspects we are being told there is a policy | :45:17. | :45:26. | |
vacuum. I will indeed give way. I thank him for giving way. Would you | :45:27. | :45:36. | |
not agree that it would be a good way going forward for reducing tidal | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
energy. We could use this all the way round the United Kingdom? I was | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
not going to be able to get that point on. I hope what the government | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
will do, even though we have had frustration over a lack of | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
announcements, let's see the commitment that will take not only | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
the Swansea Bay lagoon forward but also the Cardiff Bay lagoon. One of | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
my recommendations would be, let us use this as an opportunity to create | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
jobs and be a world leader so that we can export that technology. It is | :46:13. | :46:20. | |
the taking. When we were warned about the dangers of climate change, | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
make the early investment because it will save you money down the line. | :46:26. | :46:31. | |
That is what we have to do. I have enormous respect for him. I wonder | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
whether you might like to comment on, with the plan you are | :46:36. | :46:42. | |
suggesting,... I am not suggesting anything. It is she, not you. I | :46:43. | :46:53. | |
apologise. I am as being whether we need more detailed inspections and | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
government departments or that we are all doing our bit. What about | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
all the other departments. Should we not be working more together? The | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
honourable lady is right. It needs to be cross departmental. It needs | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
to be rigorous and it needs a step change. What we have been doing is | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
trying to turn this supertanker around slowly. What Paris says is | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
that it is not fast enough. The chair of the climate change | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
committee says we need to do more. The head of the National Audit | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
Office said we need joined up thinking and joined up thinking | :47:31. | :47:33. | |
right across. She is absolutely right. One of the biggest commitment | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
is the government could do and they would have my support in doing this | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
is fairly accept that when the committee looks at the outcomes of | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
Paris and says we need to go further and faster than the already said | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
last June. We need to go faster again and deliver more. I would say | :47:55. | :48:01. | |
to her, except it. Go beyond it if you can. Look at how we can do that. | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
What technologies should we be investing in. We are is a private | :48:07. | :48:14. | |
going to put its money? So except that and also fill the gap that we | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
currently have from the fourth carbon budget. This is to do with | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
leadership. It is great coming back from Paris with excellent | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
commitments, better than many were expecting. The UK played its role in | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
leadership they are. We need to take it now to a whole other level. Paris | :48:33. | :48:40. | |
means it is not business as usual. Let us go further and I look forward | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
to the Secretary of State seeing how we are going to do that. It has been | :48:46. | :48:55. | |
really interesting to follow the member around his debate around | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
climate change and his views on that. We have talked about the Paris | :49:01. | :49:08. | |
deal and the relationship that we have on that historic agreement. I | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
want to also highlight another historic agreement. That was made | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
between the Northern Ireland government and the Ireland | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
government back in 1950. It included Westminster as well. We had an | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
agreement between the three governments to have a hydropower | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
station in the Republic of Ireland using the water from Loch earn. I | :49:32. | :49:38. | |
was disappointed that this Motion did not mention Northern Ireland. In | :49:39. | :49:46. | |
my constituency we have had huge amount of damages to businesses, | :49:47. | :49:54. | |
homes, we have a number of people will have indeed people not in their | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
home for Christmas. That is a really demoralising situation. Local | :50:01. | :50:03. | |
businesses, family owned businesses which have lost over ?100,000 worth | :50:04. | :50:11. | |
of stock and a lot of the Christmas business as well. That is | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
devastating for them and may put some of them out of business. The | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
farmland have been highlighted here as well. The aspect of that | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
agreement between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have | :50:23. | :50:29. | |
comes into play. The levels of Loch earn have not been looked in to | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
since 1950s. We need that historic agreement to move on. We need a | :50:35. | :50:40. | |
review of that. We need to assure some of the actions that took place | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
at that time, dredging the lock and making sure the levels could be the | :50:45. | :50:56. | |
safe again. I am asking the Secretary of State to speak to the | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
Irish Northern Irish Minister to see if there would be some flexibility, | :51:04. | :51:09. | |
just as there was in 1950 to do that. I did note the Secretary of | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
State indicated about a special finance scheme for farmers. I am | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
wondering whether they would be any knock on effect for those in | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
Northern Ireland? For farmers in Northern Ireland as well to help | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
clean that up. It is really important that we get assistants, | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
just as the will in England and Cumbria and in Scotland as well. | :51:35. | :51:42. | |
Unlike my colleagues in Scotland, the Northern Ireland departments | :51:43. | :51:45. | |
have not dealt with it as well. The people on the ground and the staff | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
have been very effective in helping businesses and domestic homes and | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
indeed farmers but when it comes to the wider access of planning, the | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
key aspects we need to get from this debate is how the planning will go | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
forward into the future. We do not want a repeat of what happened this | :52:06. | :52:13. | |
year. We had it in 2009 and again six years later. We do not want | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
another repeat again. I am appealing to the Secretary of State and | :52:20. | :52:21. | |
government to do all they can to assure this will not happen once | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
again. And that they will liaise with the officials in Northern | :52:26. | :52:33. | |
Ireland departments as well. We had a time limit of four or five | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
minutes, several members spoke for seven or eight minutes. They know | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
who they are those who are still to speak can be agreed and take it up | :52:44. | :52:44. | |
with them and with me. -- agreed. I speak for a constituency that was | :52:45. | :53:07. | |
also affected by the recent flooding, although we are not in | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
Cumbria and I do urge members of the House to remember the effects of the | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
floods beyond those county boundaries. I would like to pay | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
tribute to our local radio station which continued broadcasting. For | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
many people it was their only source of June occasion to the outside | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
world as we lost power. The station managed to get back online even | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
though there were power cuts and kept local people informed. There | :53:37. | :53:43. | |
have been lots said about the effects of the flooding in the city | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
centre but I want to talk about the beautiful part of Lancashire which | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
has a very big farming committee. I would like to thank the cheer of the | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
parish council who helped introduce me to many people I did not know. I | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
welcome the news from the government about the support for farmers and I | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
will look forward to seeing that. The floods we have seen in recent | :54:12. | :54:12. | |
weeks is what we should be expecting from the world's. The annual | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
rainfall has been increasing in the UK and five out of six wettest years | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
on record have been in the new millennium. Businesses have been | :54:25. | :54:31. | |
badly affected in my constituency. I pay tribute to the businesses that | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
step up and played a role when the flood water breached the city | :54:37. | :54:39. | |
centre. Including the landlord of the pup who opened up his part to | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
allow people to come inside. When they were unable to return from | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
their Saturday night out as the bridges had been hit by a shipping | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
container, it reminds us of the force of nature meaning people | :54:55. | :55:02. | |
enjoying the night life are stranded in the city centre. 52% of | :55:03. | :55:09. | |
constituents do not have flooding insurance. I fear that may go on to | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
increase as premiums are going to be increasing. The Environment Agency | :55:14. | :55:21. | |
long-term investment scenario recommends an investment of 470 | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
million a year more than is currently being spent. The | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
government needs to be spending 2.5 billion over this period from 2015 | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
to 2051. This sounds like a lot of money but the cost of doing nothing | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
is far greater than the cost of protecting our committees. I have | :55:43. | :55:45. | |
seen them first-hand and the devastation I have lived around. I | :55:46. | :55:57. | |
call on our government do not -- to realise climate change is a serious | :55:58. | :55:58. | |
issue. UK current analysis shows that there | :55:59. | :56:11. | |
will be more heavy rainfall events. We have to ask ourselves, are we | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
prepared for the ramifications of the changes in our weather? Is a | :56:16. | :56:22. | |
report published in the summer of 2016 will hopefully help us find | :56:23. | :56:31. | |
sustainable solutions because we have had rain before, floods before | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
and reviews before. We need to see, not more parliamentary people | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
navel-gazing, but making the governments better. They need to | :56:43. | :56:52. | |
acknowledge the flood defence funds and how much money from taxpayers is | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
being spent on preventing this. Sticking your finger in the dam does | :56:59. | :57:06. | |
not solve the problems. Turning it around is a massive task and | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
sticking plaster porting is will not address that. This Government has | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
decided to cut investment in carbon capture storage technology. They are | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
just finding solar and blocking the source for wind technology. We will | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
now see another annual basis. There will be losses of the tackling | :57:29. | :57:37. | |
findings for this issue. We must also recognise that we have changed | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
our environment and expose the risk of flooding. That will give serious | :57:42. | :57:49. | |
consideration to reforestation, taking water from the soil water for | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
planning and actively our first line of defence. If you manage trees | :57:54. | :58:04. | |
correctly, it can help. If all the public buildings bought the boilers, | :58:05. | :58:12. | |
we could start to see a coherent lookalike industry employing local | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
people as part of an environmentally friendly solution. Reforestation is | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
one of many policies they could implement to improve our catchment | :58:21. | :58:25. | |
management in the long-term. The upland bogs and straightened rivers | :58:26. | :58:31. | |
are other measures we wish to consider as they seek to look for | :58:32. | :58:34. | |
more permanent solutions. One change will not fix the problem. A series | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
of correct adjustment will help any number of different ways. Whether it | :58:40. | :58:45. | |
is reforestation or tackling climate change, we have to be bold with our | :58:46. | :58:49. | |
policy-making and ensure that no more lies, businesses or homes are | :58:50. | :58:57. | |
ruined by flooding. I speak as a normal cheer flood manager for Wales | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
helping adapt well to climate change. -- chair flood manager. I | :59:04. | :59:11. | |
will be talking about adaptation but, in Paris, can I simply say that | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
the Secretary of State has do carefully at the back that a lot of | :59:16. | :59:27. | |
the suggestions are not enforceable, and you should be looking at what | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
the Government is moving ahead on. And there was adaptation, Regent | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
advice from Kuala number which is drowned in water every year until | :59:38. | :59:40. | |
they actually had storage lakes upstream. -- weekly advice from | :59:41. | :59:49. | |
Kuala Lumpur. We have to look at reader version of rivers upstream to | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
stop some of this. -- reader version. It is not enough to just | :59:54. | :00:00. | |
have grass verges for absorption, all public buildings and all | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
new-build should have but that take all the water of the ball buildings. | :00:06. | :00:14. | |
This would help it actually we can over a period of days rather than | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
sleeping the sewage systems, those fake flooding and sewerage and when | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
they come up through the drains, everybody's everything is ruined by | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
sewage. We can stop that happening by adding storage and capture on | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
booze, that would save enormous amounts of money. -- on roofs. The | :00:33. | :00:42. | |
other suggestions give us a false sense of security, that should be | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
investment in our budget also need to invent an -- invest in common | :00:46. | :00:53. | |
sense. Steps going into houses with water downstairs so that, after the | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
floods, people can get back to their normal lives. We need to minimise | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
the trauma of this. There should be local governments Keynes on | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
insurance and that would also incentivise them. -- local | :01:09. | :01:19. | |
governments Keynes. We need to ensure that there are enough | :01:20. | :01:26. | |
emergency services and that all into that. We need to finally ensure that | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
the ratio of cost versus value is correct. We have heard that many | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
times but we need to ensure that people in a low value of houses are | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
also protected. In Wales, we are changing it so that you don't just | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
get protected in rich areas, you get it if you are in a poor area and you | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
can get insurance if you are an April area. That is the adaptations | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
and I wish you the best of luck. Many thanks. I am delighted to be | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
able to speak in this debate today as our party spokesman on Klein. -- | :02:03. | :02:11. | |
on climate. Storm Desmond, which affected a lot of us, has had | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
devastating consequences. At a time that most of us are looking forward | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
to Christmas and looking forward to our festivities, those affected by | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
the flooding is likely to face away from home. They have a massive | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
clean-up process ahead of them. Our thoughts are with those affected and | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
our gratitude is with all of the emergency services and councils have | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
helped. This is not an isolated event and, over the recent years, | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
there have been a number of extreme floods in the UK in both winter and | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
summer. Many people have experienced in on multiple occasions. These | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
floods have substantial human and emotional, and financial toll on the | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
GMC is affected. Both in the immediate aftermath and over the | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
long term. -- in the communities affected. Public immunities and | :03:07. | :03:14. | |
transport links have been closed. Most tragically of all, it has | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
resulted in a number of fatalities. In Scotland, our governments are | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
very aware of the climate change both domestically and globally and | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
have introduced pioneering policies which aim to alleviate the effects | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
of climate change, both in Scotland and in developing countries across | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
the world. In this week, the Scottish Government have been | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
investing in number of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions as | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
Scotland is well on its way to meeting our target of 47% of | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
reductions by 2020. We have made massive progress in building | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
renewable energy sources do help a sustainable energy supply. Thank you | :03:55. | :04:04. | |
for taking the intervention. We recognise the investment of the | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
Scottish Government to the Climate Justice Fund. Do you agree with my | :04:10. | :04:20. | |
honourable friend about this investment helping existing flows? | :04:21. | :04:28. | |
Thank you. I was just moving on to those very points. We have been | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
encouraging investment in the climate Justice fund. Over the last | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
five years, this fund has already invested ?6 million for 11 projects | :04:39. | :04:47. | |
in African countries. In Malawi, many people now have access to safe | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
drinking water and more than 100 communities have been trained in | :04:51. | :04:58. | |
natural resource management. The Government has said it will double | :04:59. | :05:06. | |
this fund by pledging another ?12 million to help these countries. It | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
is recognised that richer countries have already do more and for longer | :05:10. | :05:16. | |
-- polluted more and for longer, so we should help the countries it has | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
affected. I applaud the hard work in reaching the agreement in Paris by | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
UK ministers, Scottish Government ministers and governments across the | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
world. I was also able to play a small role by attending the | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
legislator summit. I recently had the pleasure of visiting the London | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
Natural History Museum during recess and, thinking about climate change | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
across the world as it hit the dinosaurs of the past and led to | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
their extinction. Climate change is not new. It is now once again | :05:51. | :06:00. | |
reaching crisis point. I will finish by saying, let us fix this for the | :06:01. | :06:09. | |
future and not be the dinosaurs of the past. I am fangled to make a | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
brief contribution to this fascinating debate. -- or not. | :06:15. | :06:28. | |
Honoured. Unprecedented rainfall. More rain fell in one day on | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
Saturday the 5th of November and Cumbria received levels higher than | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
those ever recorded. Storm Desmond led to school closure, business | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
Collier, power supplies cutting off for many people and flood damage | :06:45. | :06:52. | |
across most of the region. Lancaster University had to declare the end of | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
term one week early. I did have my own small personal experience of | :06:58. | :06:59. | |
this on Sunday the 6th of December when they added the drive -- when we | :07:00. | :07:08. | |
had to drive because the university had no power since Saturday evening. | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
This raises the question of flood defences around power stations. | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
Surely they should be able to be protected in order to deters such | :07:16. | :07:24. | |
disruption. I am pleased the Secretary of State has announced the | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
review which will carry out assessments of infrastructure, | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
including, I am pleased to say, electricity substations. 1.I would | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
like to mention is the creation of a statutory duty for the firefighters | :07:39. | :07:50. | |
attending the floods. This will help Fire And Rescue Services and other | :07:51. | :07:53. | |
emergency services, as well as the Government. We can plan effectively | :07:54. | :08:03. | |
and reduce risk to life and property. This is already in place | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
in Scotland and Northern Ireland. These bonds to recent floods as | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
shown the recent ones of our emergency teams, Army and junior | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
veggies overall. They have been -- communities. They have been | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
fantastic. But we have to do is keep this up and up our game. Emergency | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
service also need to be addressed. Five fire stations in Cumbria are | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
set to close in money-saving measures and it sounds like a | :08:40. | :08:41. | |
statement of the obvious, but he cannot go on to cut the Fire Service | :08:42. | :08:51. | |
when things like this are happening. I am grateful that the words of the | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
Prime Minister was quoted, we should sit down, look at what we are | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
spending and ask, is it enough? Clearly it is not. This Government's | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
approach is failing to unity is blighted by flooding. Thank you. I | :09:10. | :09:16. | |
want to start by thanking all the honourable members on all sides of | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
the house for giving a voice to those communities who have been | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
affected by flooding today. We wanted to call this debate so that | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
those communities could have a voice. I think all the members who | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
have spoken about in the 20s crowd. They have done something else as | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
well. They have given a voice to all of us who are deeply concerned about | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
the cost of inaction on climate change and what it will mean to the | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
United Kingdom. I think there is a remarkable degree of consensus, | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
perhaps with the exception of the honourable member for more than | :09:49. | :09:56. | |
about the clear link between the trends in flooding and what we are | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
seeing. The Met office analysis suggests that global warming at, or | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
about 2 degrees, from 1990 levels will increase the floods and risk of | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
floods by a factor of seven. This was once seen as rare, once in a | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
matter of 100 years, and happening more frequently and it is right that | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
the Government has acknowledged that. It is their own adviser on | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
climate change who has said that if global greenhouse gas emissions do | :10:28. | :10:36. | |
not subside soon, global warming could take place this century. This | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
will lead to severe flood risk. This level of rise will affect an extra | :10:42. | :10:50. | |
million homes. The annual cost of flooding damage could increase from | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
?1 billion to ?5.6 billion and I need 20 80s. The member for | :10:55. | :11:01. | |
Lancaster and Fleetwood in our short but moving contribution made signed | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
a stand the real human consequences of what that could mean. It is about | :11:06. | :11:16. | |
the future. The committee on climate change said the programme lists a | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
range of useful activity but it does not amount to lead to hearing | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
programme. I see two members, they must rectify this. We need a real | :11:29. | :11:36. | |
plan, a long-term land as the member pointed out. We need to recognise as | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
the member made clear from his contribution, in action has a cost. | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
These are lives, homes and livelihoods that are on the line. | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
The member for Aberdeen South said we are spending billions on the | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
symptoms and not because. We cannot go on like this. My honourable | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
friend for Bristol East as to renew flood assessment. I would like to | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
take this opportunity to commend the Secretary of State for the | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
environment to agree to this. It will not fully account for the | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
latest understanding of climate change impact on UK flooding, given | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
we have to wait for 2017 for the risk assessment. I would ask her, | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
will she bring this forward? Will that be a new national climate | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
adaptation plan to follow these reviews? The leadership that was | :12:35. | :12:42. | |
shown in Paris must be followed by the leadership at home. I will take | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
this opportunity to ask her again, will she take this chance, the | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
chance presented by the Paris Summit and stop the sell-off of the green | :12:53. | :13:00. | |
investment blank and blocking wind farms where there is local support | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
for it. Will she make progress on the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. Will | :13:06. | :13:15. | |
she find money to give carbon capture storage and give committees | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
a chance to build a future of energy and future jobs. Will she think | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
again about the deep cuts that have been made to the solar industry, | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
just at the moment when it stood on the cusp of becoming economically | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
viable. There are many members today in the contributions topped about | :13:38. | :13:40. | |
the need to take the public with us on the journey to climate safety. | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
Just like human it is like mine in Wigan helped to build this country's | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
prosperity in dirty work down the coal mines, amenities in Wigan and | :13:54. | :14:02. | |
across the country to be given the chance to control the future through | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
jobs in solar. The Department for energy and climate change theme and | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
the member for Beverley and the cheer men of global, should this | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
weekend in Paris just what is possible if we keep our minds to it. | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
We raise our ambition and we work together to build the future. We | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
built on a proud record of leadership shown by the UK. The 1997 | :14:34. | :14:45. | |
Kyoto agreement, doubled up in 2015 I was proud to stand with 50 Labour | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
councils around the UK who have pledged to go clean by 2015 -- 2050. | :14:51. | :15:00. | |
My honourable friend said we all our thanks to the emergency services, | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
the charities, the individuals who are doing what they can to help | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
those families whose homes are under water. We all it to them to | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
understand the risks and to prevent future flooding. I would say to the | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
Secretary of State, if she will not listen to me, please will she | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
listened to the powerful and moving speech made by my honourable friend. | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
Homes underwater and children frightened by the rain, shopkeepers | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
devastated and acts of courage by the members of public. This is the | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
courage we need now from the Secretary of State. The cost of an | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
action on climate change is right before us. I ask her to show the | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
leadership we saw desperately need because the alternative is | :15:53. | :16:00. | |
unthinkable. I would like to thank the party opposite for bringing this | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
issue to the House and all those who have taken part. It has been an | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
animated and energetic debate. The exceptional brain for that we have | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
seen has led to some very distressing situations. The member | :16:15. | :16:22. | |
for Workington did speak movingly about the impact on her | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
constituency. The member for Barrow in Furness reminded us that despite | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
that devastation, communities are open for business. I I thank you for | :16:34. | :16:41. | |
setting out the situation in Scotland. We will liaise closely | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
with our Northern Ireland counterparts. I pay tribute to the | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
emergency responders, the Fire Service and volunteers who have | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
worked tirelessly to get people back to safety. To get power supplies | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
back on and to clean up quickly so that people can return to their | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
homes as soon as possible. Thank you for giving way. With regard to the | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
Fire And Rescue Services, it has been said time and time again, how | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
valuable they have been in the cases of flooding. Not just in Cumbria but | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
in Northumberland this week as well. Why is there so much resistance to | :17:28. | :17:36. | |
allowing a duty for flood water rescue to the Fire and Rescue | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
Service I know it has been one that has been made by several other | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
colleagues here. All I can say is I hope various government Ministers | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
will look at it. This year his admiration for the amount of work | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
that has gone into helping people buy the Fire and Rescue Service. | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
Over the next six years will be investing 2.3 billion pounds in | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
flood defence. A real terms increase compared to the last Parliament. My | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
honourable friend made some suggestions for future spending. | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
More support has been called for and I would remind her that 60 million | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
pounds has been invested in Fleetwood. There are schemes in | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
construction in England and we will continue to reject more homes. My | :18:31. | :18:38. | |
honourable friend recognised Biot the amount of effort going into | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
supporting Cumbria. I will certainly pass these on to my friend. Her | :18:46. | :18:55. | |
right honourable friend said earlier on there may not have been a bid for | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
EU Solidarity funding yet because it takes seven months to come through. | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
Can I make it clear that 10% could be made immediately to help us do | :19:06. | :19:15. | |
things like rebuild motorways. I am told by my right honourable friend, | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
the Secretary of State for environment and rural affairs. They | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
are already discussing that. I hope they will see some action in that | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
area. We are very short of time. There is a link between climate | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
change and an increase in extreme weather events. I do not sure the | :19:37. | :19:43. | |
views of my honourable friend, who always speaks with enthusiasm. What | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
I will say to him, we cannot attribute every storm or flood to | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
climate change, all the evidence from scientists suggests the | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
changing climate will lead to more frequent events. The Met office | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
released papers on the study of exceptional rainfall of 2013 to | :20:03. | :20:10. | |
2014. Extreme rainfall over ten consecutive days may be about seven | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
times more likely now then in a world without man-made greenhouse | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
gas emissions. It is clear that the impact of climate change is already | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
being felt. Especially in vulnerable countries, this is why the member of | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
East Kilbride is right when she commented on the need to assist | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
developing countries with funds. Unless we limit the rise in the | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
global average temperature, we will have to live with more extremes. The | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
global agreement that was reached in Paris was so important. The French | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
played a very important role in making sure it all came together. No | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
single country acting alone can hope to limit climate change, it is only | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
by acting together that we can hope to succeed. With nearly 200 | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
countries coming to an agreement, Paris is a turning point to a | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
sustainable and low carbon future. We limit the temperature rise, we | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
will limit the frequency of extreme weather, like the flooding we have | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
seen recently. I am grateful for her. She will recall that the | :21:20. | :21:28. | |
Chancellor mentioned properties whose flood risk was being reduced. | :21:29. | :21:37. | |
Is she aware of the report that has said this largely moves property | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
from a low risk to an even lower one. In other words, her department | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
have asked the officials to achieve the maximum number. I will allow the | :21:49. | :22:01. | |
Secretary of State for rural affairs to respond on that. I will make some | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
progress. With the global agreement we signalled to business this is a | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
turning point. Business is critical for delivering on our ambitions. As | :22:13. | :22:22. | |
the member said, accompanied by the member for Thornbury who was there | :22:23. | :22:32. | |
to support him. We know in isolation Britain's own greenhouse gas | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
emissions would do little to limit climate change. Our most important | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
task is giving a compelling example of how to cut carbon whilst | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
controlling costs. The member of Aberdeen South has many spending | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
commitments to recommend but no more. In a tight Spending Review he | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
should welcome the increase in our project. We are going to committed | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
to meeting the target. We are going to be setting out to meeting the | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
fourth and fifth carbon budgets next year. My honourable friend asked the | :23:09. | :23:19. | |
fairness of the butter that I assure him he it is fear and we will be | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
addressing that next year. We need to get the right balance of | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
supporting new technologies and being tough on subsidies. When costs | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
come down, as they have in wind and solar, I share the enthusiasm for | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
solar but we will always look after the Bill here as well. I have | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
announced we support and accelerate the cost reduction by making funding | :23:49. | :23:57. | |
available this Parliament. This and other measures such as supporting | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
nuclear and gas powered gas stations could provide us with the energy | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
security we need to close call. We have committed two double spending | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
and development research. We will be spending an excess of ?400 million | :24:14. | :24:20. | |
by 2020. We will only tackle climate change if we find technologies that | :24:21. | :24:28. | |
are clean and cheap. This is the answer to the question regarding | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
ambition. It is the answer by my other honourable friend. We will | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
only reach this to percent reduction is operational, 1.5 is that | :24:40. | :24:47. | |
aspiration. This is the leadership, by having our plans linking with | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
other countries for an international, low carbon task | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
force. Mission innovation. We believe we can achieve that. The | :24:57. | :25:05. | |
last Labour government and energy security Blackwall in 2010. No | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
nuclear power pants. Under investments. In her endless | :25:10. | :25:22. | |
recommendations to increase subsidies, it is unknown what the | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
opposition actually has in their own plan. It is clear to us on the side | :25:26. | :25:34. | |
of the House that a responsible national energy policy demands a | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
willingness to take decisions today for the good of tomorrow. It is this | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
government that will not take any risk with our energy security. The | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
government agrees with the idea that she'll will provide a low carbon | :25:51. | :26:00. | |
bridge. We will get on with building low energy infrastructure fit for | :26:01. | :26:01. | |
the 21st-century. As many as are of the opinion, say | :26:02. | :26:10. | |
"aye". To the contrary, "no". The ayes to the right, 214. The noes | :26:11. | :39:34. | |
to the left, 296. The ayes to the right, 214. The noes to the left, | :39:35. | :39:49. | |
296. The noes have it. We now come to the second motion and the Leader | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
of the Opposition relating... We now come to the second opposition | :39:56. | :40:14. | |
Day motion in the name of the Leader of the Opposition relating to the | :40:15. | :40:18. | |
Government's housing record. I now called John Healey to move the | :40:19. | :40:29. | |
motion. Thank you. Out of schools, wages, crime and foreign affairs and | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
terrorism, people now plays housing as the most pressing concern. It is | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
for in the latest long-running issues for Britain survey. In all | :40:40. | :40:48. | |
sides of this house, we know the increasing pressure, frustrating and | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
sometimes despair our constituents feel when affordable homes to rent | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
or buy are beyond them. This is why they have called the debate today on | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
the Government's record on housing. It is a truly shameful record. Five | :41:06. | :41:12. | |
years of failure on every front. For the Minister for Housing, I know is | :41:13. | :41:13. | |
a of social media, #Fiveyearsoffailure. Five years of | :41:14. | :41:31. | |
failure on homelessness. We feel keenly at Christmas. Rough sleeping | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
has increased by more than half in the last five years. Homelessness is | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
up by over a third and rising rapidly. Five years of failure on | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
home ownership. The rate of home ownership fell each and every year | :41:50. | :41:55. | |
since 2010. The total number of home owning households in this country is | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
now over 200,000 fewer then when the Tories took control and it is young | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
people that are being hit the hardest with a number of home owners | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
under 35 down by a fifth in the last five years. | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
Incomes have stagnated and private rents a new let's have sought. Five | :42:17. | :42:26. | |
years of failure on housing benefit costs. It rose by 3.5 billion in the | :42:27. | :42:34. | |
last Parliament, despite punishing cuts such as they bedroom tax. Five | :42:35. | :42:43. | |
years of failure on house-building. The House of Commons library have | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
confirmed to me that the last government wrote fewer new homes | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
than any peacetime government since the 1920s. Speaking of | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
house-building, isn't the most important that sadistic this one. | :42:59. | :43:07. | |
Across the UK there were 120,000 housing stocks. That had gone up to | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
hundred and 25,000. That is a very impressive record. Order. I think | :43:14. | :43:22. | |
you intended to speak out, in which case it would be a very short | :43:23. | :43:29. | |
intervention. These statistics that matters most is the number of homes | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
that was built. In 2009 the honourable gentleman is right, that | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
was the lowest level of house-building under 13 years of | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
labour. The figure was still higher than the best year we have seen | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
under the Tory government. Mr Deputy Speaker, we have seen five years of | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
failure on every front in every erasure. The Prime Minister gave a | :43:53. | :44:00. | |
speech two years ago. Housing was a central theme. He said, this is a | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
government that delivers. Well, not on housing. The government spent the | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
last five years blaming Labour. It has a track record of its own now | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
and that is five years of feel you're on housing under Conservative | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
Ministers. The Chancellor, he gave his Autumn Statement and Spending | :44:23. | :44:25. | |
Review three weeks ago and housing was a central theme. The Chancellor | :44:26. | :44:33. | |
said we are doubling the money for housing to build 400,000 new | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
affordable homes. Well, let me tell the House, after the Chancellor's | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
Autumn Statement, the annual investment in housing will be ?1.7 | :44:43. | :44:49. | |
billion. Under the money inherited in 2010 from Labour it was ?3.1 | :44:50. | :44:56. | |
billion. Not and an increase but a cut. Not a doubling but a halving of | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
this vital investment in our housing, in our country for our | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
people. The honourable gentleman is a long serving minister. Would you | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
reflect that on his government's watch. The waiting list went up and | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
there were 420,000 fewer social housing homes than before. Is that | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
not 13 years of failure? He might need to reflect on the fact that | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
under Labour we sold more than 2 million homes built in the country. | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
The number of home owners rise by over a million. Under the five years | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
and his government it has fallen by over 200,000. So much for the party | :45:42. | :45:50. | |
of the so-called home owners. We should remind the government that it | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
was the Conservative when they were last in power that stopped local | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
authorities from building social housing. As a result of that, rents | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
have gone through the roof and young people cannot get housing today. My | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
honourable friend is right and she will share the view with me that | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
looking at our own labour record, deeply proud of the billions of | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
investment we made to make housing good again. I remember when I was | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
housing minister in that final year of the last Labour government, we | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
got underway the largest council housing building programme. Councils | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
for the first time were able to get the same support on same terms as | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
housing associations building new affordable homes. They were so badly | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
needed. I want to return to the Chancellor and his boast for | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
doubling the money for housing for 400 new affordable homes. Not a | :46:54. | :47:02. | |
doubling but it halving. 400,000 homes. Most of these have been | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
announced before. Many of the new homes will not be affordable for | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
those on ordinary incomes, either to rent or to buy. I would just say to | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
the housing minister, perhaps we need a new House hashtag. Four more | :47:18. | :47:28. | |
years of failure. He makes an important point about how affordable | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
bees affordable homes are likely to be. The data I have seen would show | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
that in a rear legs Stockport. Somebody would need to have an | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
average income of ?53,000 just to have a deposit on one of these new | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
starter homes. My honourable friend is right and I will come onto | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
starter homes any moment. They have tried to fiddle the figures by | :47:53. | :47:59. | |
trying to fiddle the definition. They have redefined what constitutes | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
affordable. So-called affordable rented homes in London, mean rents | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
of over ?1000. That may be affordable to Tory Ministers in the | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
book but for many people on ordinary jobs and ordinary incomes, this is | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
beyond their reach. More is required of this government to help those | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
people who are working hard and struggling most. I am grateful. Will | :48:25. | :48:34. | |
he confirm although he did not attend the Housing Bill committee | :48:35. | :48:40. | |
stage. Will he confirm that it was comprehensively demonstrated by all | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
the witnesses at the committee at the evident stage that what there | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
was no evidence that starter homes was going to be unaffordable in | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
those areas, most of the north west, east and West Midlands. Mr Speaker, | :48:55. | :49:02. | |
I am not sure how much attention he was playing. He should have looked | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
at the report. He should have listened to the honourable friends | :49:09. | :49:15. | |
who led from the Labour benches so ably and strongly throughout the | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
many sessions of the scrutiny bill. I want to return to the fact that we | :49:20. | :49:26. | |
have seen such a serious failure of the last five years led by the | :49:27. | :49:34. | |
Conservative government. My right honourable friend, thank you. What | :49:35. | :49:44. | |
does he think the forced sale of council homes will exasperate the | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
homeless crisis. Will he get the honourable friend to speak in this | :49:50. | :49:53. | |
debate and get his view on extending the Right to Buy for that voluntary | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
Right to Buy for voluntary housing associations. I hope we will make a | :50:00. | :50:07. | |
chance return to those arguments when that's Bill returns to the | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
House after Christmas. He asks about my view of weather forced sale of | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
council homes, particularly in London, is likely to lead to a rise | :50:19. | :50:25. | |
in homelessness. I would agree. It is much more significant that the | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
Conservative Association agree. That is why they oppose the plan. They | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
said warning of the consequences in particular on council waiting lists, | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
homelessness and housing benefit. In many ways these are not simply | :50:43. | :50:50. | |
abstract arguments or drive statistics, these are the lives of | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
our friends, neighbours and constituents. A couple on an average | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
income who want to start a family but are now less rather than more | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
likely able to get a home of their own. The family renting privately, | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
whose kids like 1.4 million others in the same situation, I less likely | :51:11. | :51:17. | |
to go through school to be forced out by the landlords. The pensioner | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
needing affordable supported accommodation who is now less not | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
more likely to find a suitable home and help they need. Human stories of | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
this housing crisis which has worsened over the last five years. | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
Do we not need to see a bit of contrition rather then synthetic | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
anger on the benches opposite. Is it not a fact that homelessness and | :51:44. | :51:51. | |
rough sleeping has risen 50 7% since the Prime Minister has taken office. | :51:52. | :51:56. | |
He said it was a public disgrace. He is right and when Labour first came | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
to office in 1987, how serious the levels of homelessness and rough | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
sleeping wearer. Albee fell in the policies we put in place of 13 | :52:06. | :52:12. | |
years. He is right, he has seen a homelessness and rough sleeping rise | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
again. Just a pause at this point ahead of the Christmas period, we | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
should all reflect on that and asked hard questions to why that is | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
happening and what he is going to do about it and what he is going to do | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
over the Christmas period to help. He will of course be aware that | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
homelessness peaked in 2004. The very serious point he made, we | :52:43. | :52:47. | |
should all consider homelessness at Christmas. He would have been part | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
of the solution perhaps you could tell the House what the solution is. | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
Part of the solution is not to be deep cuts in council budgets that | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
we're going to hear the detail of later this week. It is not to cut | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
back on the support for social housing, this will lead to cutting | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
the provision for many of the most honourable people in this country. | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
At this point, we are still close to the start of a new five-year | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
parliament, unfortunately. This is the most crucial part of the | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
political cycle when political and policy direction is set. It should | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
be a time for stock taking and fresh thinking. The autumn budget and the | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
Housing and Planning Bill do nothing to correct the problem of five years | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
of failure. In many areas it will make the problem is much worse. He | :53:45. | :53:51. | |
raises a very serious matter here. If his facts are correct, why was it | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
that the property website is it plus stated just before the general | :53:58. | :54:04. | |
election a win for the Labour Party could spell trouble for first-time | :54:05. | :54:07. | |
buyers. Why would they have said that? Why? | :54:08. | :54:21. | |
Zoopla. I have to tell him... I am not sure I will bother, he is not | :54:22. | :54:40. | |
listening anyway. I will give way. I am struggling to hear the Shadow | :54:41. | :54:44. | |
minister expressing the views on housing. Can we please be a bit more | :54:45. | :54:53. | |
tolerant and stop shouting? I am grateful. Will he agree with me that | :54:54. | :54:58. | |
it is time the Conservatives in government took responsibility and | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
took responsibility for their failure. Their housing policy has | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
been based on a miss of capitalism. It has been focused on helping | :55:10. | :55:16. | |
people buy one of the big 2-mac in sufficient numbers rather than | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
increasing the supply. -- in significant numbers. If we're going | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
to have interventions, make them short. He makes an important point. | :55:27. | :55:34. | |
There is a serious question about the plans ahead. Whether the right | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
use of public money is to try and subsidise the demands for new | :55:41. | :55:46. | |
housing. The demand at a time when in many parts of the country, the | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
housing market is already out of control. I am going to make some | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
progress now. I will give weight later on. In this point of the | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
political cycle, we need to look now at what is ahead. Two areas | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
demonstrate this direction the Tory government are taking on housing. It | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
serves as a warning of what is to come. The first is a systematic | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
attack on the housing opportunity for young people and families on | :56:20. | :56:24. | |
ordinary incomes. The very people who the housing market is failing | :56:25. | :56:25. | |
most at the moment. Ministers have launched a full | :56:26. | :56:33. | |
frontal assault on council and housing Station homes which will | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
have those on low and middle incomes hardest -- Housing association. It | :56:39. | :56:44. | |
has been said that the result of the Budget and Autumn Statement together | :56:45. | :56:48. | |
will be 24,000 fewer housing association homes built. A while, | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
the Housing Bill strangles the ability and the obligation of the | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
private and public sector is to build the affordable homes to rent | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
and to buy that so badly needed in both urban and rural areas alike. | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
In addition, there is an extraordinary forced sell-off of | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
council homes to fund an extension of right to buy, with no prospect or | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
commitment, as Labour has urged, of like-for-like, 141 replacement in | :57:18. | :57:24. | |
the local area. In many areas of the country, both rural and urban, but | :57:25. | :57:28. | |
especially in London, these council homes won't go to families | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
struggling to buy, but to speculators, second home owners and | :57:33. | :57:37. | |
buy to let landlords. And, of course, the greater the demand for | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
affordable housing in an area, the higher the value of their houses, | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
the more the Chancellor will take in his annual levy. | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
I give way. Thank you. Does the shadow minister not agree that | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
council house building is at a record 23 year high, and there has | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
been more cancer housing built in the last five years that there ever | :58:01. | :58:03. | |
were under 13 years of the last Labour government? -- more council | :58:04. | :58:12. | |
housing. If she looks at the Homes And Communities Agency data, they | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
will confirm, as my honourable friend said yesterday, that more | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
than eight in ten of the social homes and council homes built under | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
her Government under the last five years were started and funded under | :58:27. | :58:35. | |
the Labour programme. Now, Mr Deputy Speaker... I will give way. Before | :58:36. | :58:42. | |
my honourable friend leaves the point of speculation, is he aware | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
that the largest amount of foreign money coming into the London | :58:48. | :58:50. | |
property market is from Russia, and the average price they pay is ?6.3 | :58:51. | :59:00. | |
million? Do you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, that | :59:01. | :59:04. | |
detail had escaped me, but I am very grateful to my honourable friend. I | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
will give way. I am very grateful. I think he would agree with me, it is | :59:10. | :59:13. | |
time to kill this myth that the Tories are the people's friends, | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
they built council houses, because the reality is this, those council | :59:18. | :59:25. | |
houses were left by the previous Tory government in a right mess, and | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
the amount of money spent by the last Labour government had to go | :59:31. | :59:35. | |
into refurbishment of those. It was a disgraceful legacy. | :59:36. | :59:41. | |
My honourable friend is right, ?22 billion, the last Labour government | :59:42. | :59:45. | |
invested to bring homes that were barely decent up to scratch. 1.4 | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
million council homes with new kitchens, central heating, doors | :59:52. | :59:57. | |
that fitted, double glazing. For the first time, homes fitted to live | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
then that had been left as a legacy from the previous Tory government. | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
My fear in the future is that when Labour yet back into government, we | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
will be faced with a similar legacy of neglect of our council housing. | :00:10. | :00:16. | |
Now, looking to the next five years, we look forward to a huge loss of | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
affordable homes to rent and to buy in this country. In total, the | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
chartered Institute of Housing expect the loss of 195,000 | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
affordable homes for social rent over the next five years. On top of | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
this, in the very last sitting of the Housing Bills committee -- | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
Housing Bill committee, ministers addressed plans to scrap the secure | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
tenancies that Margaret Thatcher herself brought into -- for council | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
tenants, giving tenancies of between two to five years. The message from | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
this government could not be clearer, if you are on a low or | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
middle in, and rent a council home, then a stable family home is too | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
good for the likes of you. Grateful to him for giving way. | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
Thanks to years of Tory leadership in Redbridge we have the lowest | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
social housing stock in London. Is he also aware that one in 27 | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
households in the private rented sector are at risk of the eviction | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
due to a whole load of factors, the majority of which are due to the | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
policies of this government? I am indeed. I say to the Minister, | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
because there is still time for him to think again, his Housing and | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
planning Bill is a huge missed opportunity to help 11 million | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
people who live in the private rented sector without the security | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
to start their lives and bring up their families. He could legislate | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
for longer tenancies, he could legislate for better consumer | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
rights, he could legislate for better and more decent standards of | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
obligations on landlords. He has refused to do so so far, I hope he | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
will think again. I give way. Can I ask the right | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
honourable gentleman just to clear up one point upon which I am still | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
and I think many people are still in doubt, is he himself in favour of | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
giving housing association tenants the rights to buy their home? Is he | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
in favour of aspiration for those people to buy homes, yes or no? | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
I am certainly in favour of aspiration and homeownership, the | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
last Labour government saw the rise in home owners of over a million. | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
But on right to buy, funded by the forced sale of council homes, I | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
confirmed at second reading we will oppose it throughout the passage of | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
this bill because it will lead to a huge loss of affordable homes to | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
rent and by that people in this country need. And a policy that will | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
penalised people on ordinary, modest incomes. I give way. I will give way | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
to my honourable friend and then proceed. | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
Is my right honourable friend not amazed that the government's policy | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
of selling of high-value council homes and claiming that will fund | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
the replacement of Housing association properties, the | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
replacement of those council homes and the contribution to the | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
remediation of brown field sites, despite these claims the government | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
is not able to table before this house the figures to justify those | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
claims? He is right. Obviously the select committee is looking hard at | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
some of these questions. It is not the first time the sums do not add | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
up. I have to say to the Minister and the benches opposite, if they | :03:35. | :03:36. | |
will force the sale of council assets to fund this programme to | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
extend the right to buy in housing associations, why not start with | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
some of the Government's own acid? Why not start by funding Government | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
policy with Government supported instead of taking it likes a | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
medieval baron from councils because their covers are running dry? Let me | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
turn to starter homes, I will get on. Yet we to starter homes. The | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
list is make much of starter homes and there is clearly a need for more | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
affordable homes to buy, especially as the number has fallen in the last | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
five years by nearly 30%. But these starter homes will be a nonstarter | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
for families on ordinary incomes. Shelves are calculated across the | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
country you need an annual income of around ?50,000 and a deposit of | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
?40,000 to afford a starter home. -- Shelter calculate. In London, an | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
income of ?77,000 and a deposit of ?98,000. This is simply out of reach | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
for most of those on middle-income, working families, who need their | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
help to buy the most. And, of course, there are no controls to | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
stop those who can afford to buy without help from the Government | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
taking advantage of the scheme. There is a big risk that the people | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
who benefit most will be those who need it least. | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
I give way. I thank the honourable gentlemen, he has been most | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
generous. If right to buy is, as you suggest, a disaster by housing | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
associations, why have they therefore entered into a voluntary | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
arrangement with the Government to deliver right to buy? Can he | :05:16. | :05:24. | |
explain? Has he ever heard of the term shotgun arrangements? Because | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
if he talks to a lot of housing Association chief executives, or | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
their boards or their tenant is, as I have, they feel they have been | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
left with no choice. They don't like it, they don't believe it, they | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
don't trust ministers that they have signed up because it is the least | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
worst for them. Mr Deputy Speaker, with so many | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
people's dreams of buying their own home totally unaffordable and out of | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
reach, how have ministers responded? By announcing plans to fiddle the | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
figures again, by changing the definition of affordable homes to | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
include so-called starter homes for sale at up to ?450,000. This is an | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
insult to young people and families on ordinary incomes, a mockery of | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
and sound policy. It is like the Minister for health tackling the GP | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
shortages by reclassifying cashiers at Boots pharmacy as qualified | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
doctors. The second area which demonstrates the direction this | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
Government is taking for this Parliament is the systematic | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
sidelining of local people and local decision-making. Whatever they say, | :06:38. | :06:44. | |
ministers' actions are renting local is. At every turn since the | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
election, housing policy has been set to undermine the sale of local | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
people and override their local representatives. The housing and | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
planning Bill -- Housing and Planning Bill puts 33 new | :07:00. | :07:01. | |
centralising power was in the hands of the Secretary of State, from | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
directing starter homes are built instead of affordable homes to | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
fixing red is for so-called high income tenants. The powers include a | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
legalised annual cash grab from councils which totally undermines | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
the ability of councils to plan for housing need in their area and rips | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
up the contract of localising local finance for housing which has up to | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
this point been the subject of all-party support. And these powers | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
include sweeping new powers for ministers to award an automatic | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
planning permission, so called in principle permission. This is not, | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
Mr Deputy Speaker, as the house has been led to believe, simply a policy | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
for dealing with Brownfield site. It is a power and a policy for any site | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
allocated for any use in a local plan, no need to apply for full | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
planning permission, no limitations on what sort of develop and, no | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
planning gain or obligations on developers, just the technical | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
details left to the locally elected planning authorities to deal with. | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
This is why a host of organisations now echo Labour 's sense about such | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
open-ended powers, from the Council For The Protection Of Rural England | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
to Friends Of The Earth and the Woodland Trust. There will be a deep | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
concern is the Government 's Jamaat are clearly on housing leads to such | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
drastic specs -- steps to deny local communities a voice on development. | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
I give way. I follow what he says, but does he not reflect that his | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
argument would have had rather more weight had he not in part of a | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
government which impose regional social strategies, which give no | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
choice to local communities at all. Isn't he contradicting his own | :08:56. | :09:02. | |
policy in government? He is a master of destruction, the honourable | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
gentleman. I am making a point about clause 111 in the bill, he has | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
enough experience to know what is at stake. If he reads that bill he, I | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
know, will be very worried about the sweeping open-ended powers. If the | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
Minister wants these powers, he really should justify them to this | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
house and the other place during the course of this bill, or he should | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
tighten up so that they do what he says wants to do. I look forward to | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
the Minister's response on that point, but I am not holding my | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
breath. In the housing world, he has become known as Mr million homes. By | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
the end of this Parliament, he said... By the end of the | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
parliament, he said, success would mean that we have seen it filled in | :09:51. | :09:53. | |
total something like a million homes. In other words, an average of | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
about 200,000 homes a year. We know he is prone to a bit of bullish | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
bluster, but this is really going some. In his first year as housing | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
minister he saw not 200,000 homes built but 115,000 -- 115,000 590. | :10:11. | :10:18. | |
Last year, the best year in the last five for this government, only | :10:19. | :10:27. | |
117,720 were built. A total, at their best, still lower than the | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
lowest of the worst year in 13 years of a Labour government in the depths | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
of the global banking crisis and recession. I had to say, even the | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
Prime Minister has not gone as far as the honourable gentleman. To | :10:46. | :10:53. | |
conclude, Mr Deputy Speaker, no government can sit back and see a | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
whole generation priced out of a decent home and call itself a one | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
nation government. No political party can have nothing to say in | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
their manifesto to 11 million people living in private rented | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
accommodation and call itself a party of aspiration. And no party | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
can have a programme that will lead to a huge loss of genuinely | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
affordable housing and call itself the party of working people. Mr | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
Deputy Speaker, this country has seen five years of failure on | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
housing and a Conservative ministers, people desperately need | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
and deserve better. During the course of this Parliament, this | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
party, the Labour Party, will prove itself to be the party of working | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
people, to be the party of aspiration and to be the party of | :11:41. | :11:42. | |
one nation. The question is as on the order | :11:43. | :11:59. | |
paper. I would like to warmly thank Her Majesty is opposition for | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
choosing the subject of today's debate. It is an important subject | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
and I am always keen to compare and contrast our records on housing. It | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
is five months since the last such occasion and much has changed. We | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
have announced the largest government house-building programme | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
for 40 years and we have a new shadow minister for opposing who was | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
the minister for opposing briefly at the end of the last Labour | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
government, rather like a back to the future experience. I am on my | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
third shadow housing minister. If we think back to that analogy it is | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
that third part of the trilogy, the one about cowboys that nobody really | :12:43. | :12:53. | |
likes very much. It is a question of which Back To The Future film it is. | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
I hope it is not the Cowboys won the title bid is not the Soviet one of | :12:59. | :13:07. | |
1973. The 1973 film is a terrifying tale won Ivan the Terrible is | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
accidentally transported into the future to become the superintendent | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
of a department building in Moscow. Who knows? Stranger things are | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
happening in the Labour Party. While shadow ministers may come and go one | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
thing has remained the same. This curious for nominal of Labour | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
claiming their record is better than ours. Supporting the aspiration of | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
home-buyers without in 32 minutes suggest any alternative. He talks | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
about a housing crisis but fails to reference who created it. He claims | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
they will take their record over hours without any rational | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
justification for his preference. As he ever given any thought to win | :13:54. | :14:01. | |
Labour estimated in 2003 that only 5000-13,000 Polish migrants would | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
come in and it was over 100,000? Why might that they think they were | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
going to live? He is on record with his views on homeownership and | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
house-building. We have challenges as our population grows. This is the | :14:18. | :14:27. | |
situation we inherited in 2010. We inherited a housing bubble that | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
burst with devastating consequences, an industry in debt, science | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
mothballed, workers laid off, a loss of 420,000 affordable homes, | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
rocketing waiting lists, collapsing sales, with the Labour Party only | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
building one home for every 171 that was sold. There was a sustained fall | :14:50. | :14:57. | |
in homeownership and he himself said I am not sure that such a bad thing. | :14:58. | :15:06. | |
It was no coincidence that this disregard was matched. Much by chaos | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
in the regulation of lending, a planning system in disarray, a | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
post-war lull in house-building by councils and the lowest level of | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
house-building since the 1920s. Are you as disappointed as I am bit in | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
the course of his churlish whingeing which lasted 32 minutes he could not | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
give this government credit for tackling these slum landlords in | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
this housing and planning bill which is government did nothing about in | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
13 years? I think maybe he has not been involved in the housing bill | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
process through committee. It is probably partly why he has not | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
picked up, despite what is in the motion for this debate, that we are | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
going further to crack down on rogue landlords than any government | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
before. I would like to finish this point. This government oversaw the | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
last Labour government the lowest level of house-building since the | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
1920s with 88,000 starts being overseen by the honourable members. | :16:13. | :16:21. | |
That was their housing crisis. That was their record and that is a state | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
of affairs that he claims the public should prefer. Does he feel that | :16:25. | :16:33. | |
those people who voted Tory at the election will be surprised at this | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
housing and planning bill? As it delivers two of the key manifesto | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
pledges I suspect people will be pleased to see this as the | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
government who are getting on and delivering for the people of this | :16:48. | :16:55. | |
country. The public clearly gave their verdict on the performance of | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
the last government at two general elections. At the last time of | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
asking the electorate were asked and offered by the party opposite a | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
reprise of Labour's centrally controlled nightmare. Land grabs, | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
mansion tax, rent controls, red tape and restrictions on right to buy. Is | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
he pleased that the number of people who have expressed their interest in | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
our aspirational policy and queuing up to take advantage of the policy? | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
She makes a good point. The honourable gentleman seems not to | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
want to get that opportunity to buy their homes to housing association | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
tenants when thousands have expressed their interest in doing | :17:38. | :17:45. | |
that. The public considered that cocktail of aggressive operations | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
being put forward on the measures by the party opposite and declined. | :17:49. | :17:57. | |
People in Redbridge were tired of the Conservatives running the | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
council and elected a Labour council in May 20 14th and one of our | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
pledges was to introduce a landlord licensing scheme. When can we expect | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
to hear from his department to give us the go-ahead? We put through | :18:12. | :18:18. | |
selective licensing just before the general election and I am sure with | :18:19. | :18:25. | |
that and the crackdown on rogue landlords his residence will be | :18:26. | :18:27. | |
delighted to see we are going further than any Labour government | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
ever did. Under our watch the number of first-time buyers doubled, the | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
number of new homes doubled, public support for new house-building | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
doubled. He will be raising to congratulate that I am sure. I want | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
to congratulate the minister on his measures to tackle rogue landlords. | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
That is a step forward. Does he think it would be a good idea to | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
tackle rogue developers to we do not have an explosion of rogue | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
landlords? I am sure he will want to have me more details on what he | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
means by Rob developers. I want to make sure that good quality | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
developers are building the houses we need. Could I suggest that he | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
speaks to the economic director of the National Crime Agency who says | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
that the London property market is being skewed by laundered money, | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
artificially driving up prices through the use of the proceeds of | :19:29. | :19:35. | |
crime? If he wants to do something he should pick up the phone. Nobody | :19:36. | :19:42. | |
is going to be supporting... I would support anybody cracking down on | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
crime in London. She seems to think affordable housing starts at ?6 | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
million in London. That may be so for Labour. In this longest of | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
successes would he include that policy the Green Deal in his list of | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
successes? I wonder if at some stage one of his colleagues is going to | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
intervene to explain to us the wonders of how many courthouses got | :20:09. | :20:15. | |
built under the Labour government. The London housing market, one of | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
the worst things that could happen to it would be the position of rent | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
controls on the private sector, which drives up costs, reduces | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
supply and encourages the sort of bad landlord rather than the good | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
ones that we need to see in the capital. He makes a very good point. | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
One of the lessons we have learned from around the world, New York and | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
elsewhere, rent controls simply drive down supply, drive a black | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
market, send rent upwards, and it is not something we will be seeing | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
under this government. I want to make progress. Since 2010 we have | :20:52. | :20:59. | |
helped over 270,000 households with government schemes to buy a home, | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
provided over 270,000 affordable homes, with nearly one third of | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
those in London. We are the first government since the 1980s to finish | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
a term of office with the highest stock of affordable homes -- a | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
higher stock than when we started. I would remind him when he set out his | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
preference for council house building that twice as many council | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
homes were built in these five years and during 13 years of the Labour | :21:29. | :21:36. | |
government. More new council housing was started in London last year than | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
the Hall of the last Labour government. Shocking may seem. ?20 | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
billion was invested over the course of the last parliament achieving the | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
same rate of affordable house-building of half the rate of | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
grant under Labour. That is a clear metaphor for our record on housing. | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
Building more for less and doing it faster. We were not afraid of | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
difficult decision and of doing this things differently. The decision to | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
end lifetime tenancies for new tenants to ensure we make the best | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
use of social housing based on need and income. When the minister | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
introduced this amendment to the housing bill he referred to 380 | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
households that occupies social housing with two or more spare | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
bedrooms, citing it as a reason for wanting to manage the stock more | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
efficiently and move people around in social housing. Is it the | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
government's policy govern it is concerned about under occupation | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
that people under occupying will not be allowed the right to buy? When I | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
am talking about lifetime tenancies we are looking at that it is right | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
that tenancies are reviewed after several years to identify whether | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
the circumstances have changed. The voluntary extension of right to buy | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
will be for housing associations. I will give way in a moment. This move | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
has been opposed by the party opposite. They might want people who | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
rent to remain renting for life. The minister has given way once. You | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
cannot just hang round standing up. Point of order. The reason I tried | :23:25. | :23:32. | |
to intervene again is because the minister discourteous lie completely | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
ignored the point I made presumably because it is awkward. That is not a | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
point of order. I hope you are not trying to reflect on the chair. You | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
do not have to be stood up. I am sure the minister will give way on | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
his terms not on yours or mine. I did actually outline our intention | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
is to extend rights to bribe to also show housing tenants. -- rights to | :23:57. | :24:03. | |
buy. As he had any representations from the housing sector are party | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
opposite to be introduced lifetime tenure for those in social housing | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
and if that happened what does he think the effect would be on the | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
market? He makes a very good point. The silence has been stark. Our | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
plans for housing are delivering. It is clear, I will be upfront, we must | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
do more to meet the housing needs of our nation. If our class during the | :24:32. | :24:39. | |
last Parliament was to rescue the housing market we must supercharge | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
it. I wonder whether he accepts the estimate that as a result of the | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
July budget and the November spending review this government will | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
build 34,000 fewer homes by 2020 than previously forecast. I will | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
come on to housing associations in a few moments. As I said to a select | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
committee this morning housing associations have an exciting | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
opportunity under going to be able to realise assets to build more | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
homes than ever before. I will give way. Coming back to supercharging, | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
some of us are pleased when the government made a commitment to | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
build 1 million new homes in this Parliament. Is that still a | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
government policy, a commitment, or is it an aspiration? In his opening | :25:34. | :25:41. | |
remarks he quoted me spot on. It that's little is still our ambition | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
to build 1 million homes. This is not solely an issue about the number | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
of new homes. We are determined to reverse the slide in home ownership | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
that his party oversaw. With so many people being kept off the housing | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
ladder for so long we are determined to deliver on our promises quicker. | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
On measures to tackle home ownership and the contrast with in action from | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
the party opposite is it not one of the most radical measures we have | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
introduced to support first-term buyers that we are levelling the | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
playing field between them and people who wish to buy properties to | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
rent out to those same frustrated first-time buyers? It is a good | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
point that he has raised a number of times. I am pleased we are able to | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
move forward and deliver on something. It is going to level the | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
playing field. I will make some progress then takes | :26:36. | :26:46. | |
more interventions. In the spending review we announced the biggest | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
investment in housing for 40 years. We will continue to invest in what | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
matters to British families and young people. We want to pay off | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
Labour 's debt and build the homes our families need. These are both | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
required to make this a turnaround decade. In the spending review the | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
Chancellor delivered a further ?20 billion. Our work will include major | :27:05. | :27:13. | |
investments in large-scale project, ?7.5 billion to extend help to buy, | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
equity loans scheme until 2021, supporting the purchase of 145,000 | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
new-build homes. In London, we are doubling the value of equity loans | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
to 40% providing the capital's spiralling homeowners with a better | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
chance to buy, and in you help to buy ISA is helping buyers across the | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
country safe for a deposit. The brand you help to buy shared | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
ownership will deliver a further 135,000 homes by removing many of | :27:45. | :27:46. | |
the restrictions that have held back shared ownership. An aspiring | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
homeowner, for example, in Yorkshire, and get on the housing | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
ladder with a deposit of just ?1400. I'm sure the right honourable | :27:57. | :27:59. | |
gentleman will be encouraging his constituents to apply. Let me give | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
the House some clear examples of why this matters. In the south-east, a | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
deposit could be as low as ?2400, in London ?3400. Our plans for shared | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
ownership will make 175,000 more people eligible for home ownership. | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
Just last week, the Prime Minister visited one of these families in | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
Burton and I visited one in Didcot. They were excited for the future and | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
the possibilities homeownership opened to them. These 's abilities | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
will be open to anyone of any occupation of long as they earn over | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
?80,000, or ?90,000 in London. We will provide other opportunities for | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
working people. There will be a ?1 billion housing delivery fund | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
supporting smaller custom builders, ?8 billion to develop 450,000 | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
affordable homes, 100,000 homes with affordable rent and 200,000 | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
affordable homes will be starter homes, available to young, | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
first-time buyers with a 20% discount. That is the largest | :29:01. | :29:03. | |
affordable house-building programme for many decades. The starter homes | :29:04. | :29:11. | |
will be transformational. While the honourable members opposite laugh | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
and pour scorn on starter homes and go against the aspirations of | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
first-time buyers, I would ask all members across the House to pause | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
and think for a moment. A first-time buyer getting a 20% discount of a | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
new home, linking that of a 5% deposit thanks to help to buy, saves | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
thousands. A two-bedroom home in Durham, the honourable lady's | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
constituency, can be bought for just under ?150,000. With 20% off, | :29:40. | :29:46. | |
?120,000. If used with help to buy, a first-time buyer can get a house | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
with a mortgage of ?90,000 and a deposit of only ?6,000. Happy to | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
give way. The average price of property, according to the Metro | :29:57. | :30:04. | |
today, is over ?1 million. To get -- that is in my constituency. You need | :30:05. | :30:10. | |
any come of over ?101,000 in my constituency to get a mortgage. It | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
is pathetic. That was almost a reasonable attempt. Let me give him | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
fact for London. The average first-time buyer home is less than | :30:20. | :30:21. | |
the cost of an average home generally. In London, an average | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
first-time buyer home is ?364,000. We recognise that as a challenge. | :30:29. | :30:35. | |
With a 20% discount, this would be ?291,000. If used with a help to buy | :30:36. | :30:38. | |
scheme it means a first-time buyer can buy that home for ?174,000 and a | :30:39. | :30:47. | |
deposit of just ?14,500. I would also point the honourable gentleman | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
to my comments a few moments ago where shared ownership even in | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
London means coming onto the shared -- home ownership ladder for just | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
under ?3500. We make no apology for focusing on affordable | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
homeownership. Can I congratulate him on what he is saying and one | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
more statistic, which is the massive expansion that he is helping us to | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
oversee in London of part buy part rent schemes has already seen 52,000 | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
families helped into homes that they partially own and will own even more | :31:20. | :31:27. | |
on average household incomes of ?37,000, that is the Conservative | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
policy. My honourable friend, the Right Honourable member for | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
Uxbridge, highlights the reality of what is going on and what the | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
ambition should be. Under his leadership London is seeing a | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
shining example of what a city can leave -- achievement of the | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
leadership of a powerful mayor, delivering many affordable homes | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
since the mess inherited in 2010. We want to build on this are looking to | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
Baltimore to the Mayor of London and see my honourable friend the member | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
for Kingston take forward the work. We make no apology for focusing on | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
affordable homeownership, despite the party opposite seeming to want | :32:04. | :32:06. | |
to do everything they can to stop people having the chance to own | :32:07. | :32:09. | |
their own home. That is what people want. Buying a home is an aspiration | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
shared with the vast majority of the public. 86% of people say they would | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
choose to buy their own property. Maybe ignoring them is partly why we | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
got the results in the general election we did when Labour was | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
ignored by the public. He is right to emphasise the | :32:30. | :32:32. | |
importance of delivering on aspiration, is he not also write to | :32:33. | :32:35. | |
contrast the delivery time I honourable friend the member for | :32:36. | :32:42. | |
Uxbridge with the complete failure of the top-down policies of the | :32:43. | :32:45. | |
former Mayor of London, who I understand now advises leader of the | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
Labour Party? I think my honourable friend puts it at 60 three as I | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
possibly could, it highlights the mess inherited nationally and in | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
London. Hopefully next year we can build on the work to deliver for our | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
country by insuring we deliver good governance in London with a | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
conservative mayor again next year. Whilst he is talking about | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
aspiration, what about the aspiration of people on low in comes | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
in my constituency for whom the sorts of figures he's talking about | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
in terms of what you can buy is completely out of reach, and who are | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
being shunted out of Oxford because the housing allowance won't even | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
cover any rent is in the private rented sector? What about the | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
aspiration and chants of a decent life for those people? And there was | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
I thinking he was going to rise to congratulate the Mayor of London for | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
the excellent work he has been doing. I would say to him but he | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
should look at... It is important you accept the hall ambit of what we | :33:44. | :33:50. | |
have been doing to make sure we're making clear as it wide of the cross | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
or ten of housing, all types of housing, and to make sure in areas | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
like is that shared ownership is a real possibility, with those ?1400 | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
deposit. What we are clear about, and across the house who can be | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
clear about, is that aspiration to own their own home and the reality | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
of homeownership, for too many people, are drifting apart. The | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
decline in home is not just an economic robin, it is a social | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
failure. -- economic robin. We risk creating a generation of young | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
people excelled from home ownership. He may think that is not such a bad | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
thing, seeing homeownership fall, but we disagree. He may not care, | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
but we do. We care about young people worse off than their parents, | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
compelled to leave the communities they love and grew up in awe to | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
decline good job opportunities because local housing is too | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
expensive. We must build more homes, Mr Speaker. Across this house we | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
have a duty to make that case and show good leadership with local | :34:53. | :34:54. | |
authorities to make sure we don't just say we need to build more homes | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
somewhere else, but we are building and making a case for building more | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
homes in all communities. This would be a defining challenge of our | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
generation. I had phone calls are people who wanted to buy their own | :35:11. | :35:13. | |
homes who were delighted to have that opportunity. They have been | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
their homes for some time. Picking up on the point about local plans | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
and the top-down way from the party opposite, it is perfectly possible, | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
the minister would agree, perhaps, to build good quality homes with a | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
good local plan. My honourable friend makes a good point, good | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
local leadership delivering a good local plan. There is aspiration for | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
good quality homes, it is important to deliver for people locally and we | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
have a duty both on local authorities and in this house. We | :35:48. | :35:50. | |
have championed that in this house over the last few months. This will | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
be a defining challenge for our generation, and the right honourable | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
gentleman, spoke in his opening remarks for over 32 minutes, gave | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
not one single iota of a start of a Labour policy for this problem. | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
Instead he fell back on outdated politics. It really is, I'm afraid, | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
the Soviet version of Back To The Future after all. The lazy | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
assumption that there is a contradiction between supporting the | :36:19. | :36:21. | |
dreams of home-buyers and insuring more affordable homes are built as | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
well. Nowhere is this clearer than his opposition to our extension of | :36:26. | :36:28. | |
rights to buy housing association tenants. In the last Parliament, we | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
dramatically improve the right to buy for council tenants, 47,000 | :36:34. | :36:40. | |
tenants seize this opportunity with over 80% of those sales under the | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
reinvigorated scheme, yet 1.3 million social tenants and housing | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
association properties continue to get little or no assistance. That | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
cannot be right. We promised the electorate we would end this | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
unfairness. Not at the moment. Housing associations have recognised | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
this inequality and have signed an offer to the Government which we | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
have accepted, an historic agreement to end it. I thank the housing | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
association and I applaud them for their forward-thinking and eagerness | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
to help tenants own their own property, especially in light of the | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
fact that it is clear it has bitterly disappointed the | :37:17. | :37:19. | |
opposition. Clearly the housing associations have not followed the | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
Labour Party script of falling obediently into the line. Instead, | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
what housing associations are doing is giving tenants is what they want. | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
That should not be a surprise because housing associations' | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
mission is to deliver for their tenants, and they are passionate | :37:36. | :37:38. | |
about doing that, giving them an option to buy their home and a | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
ladder to opportunity. And every property sold will lead to an extra | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
home being built. Happy to give way. I thank him for giving way. Is he | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
aware that in the select amid I asked three leaders of housing | :37:52. | :37:54. | |
associations when they thought Government policy would lead to them | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
building more affordable homes to buy, and the majority agreed that it | :37:59. | :38:09. | |
would. As the honourable gentleman says, I and another proponent of | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
what the select committee says. This will centred housing supply. Every | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
property sold brings in money which means extra homes get built. Housing | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
supply goes up. It is time to end the basis care stories that right to | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
buy reduces the number of homes, particularly in London. -- the base | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
scare stories. After reinvigorated the scheme for council tenants in | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
London, 536 additional homes were sold in the first year. 1139 were | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
built. Yes, honourable members heard that correctly. 241 on right to buy | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
homes in London already. -- two for Juan. It will be repeated on a much | :38:54. | :39:01. | |
grander scale. Happy to give way. He will forgive my scepticism, I hope, | :39:02. | :39:09. | |
given the fact that in the stop port part of my constituency, over the | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
last three years there have been 184 sales under right to buyer of | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
council homes and there has not been one single right to buy replacement. | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
Clearly has council will want to listen to him and get on with | :39:26. | :39:28. | |
building more homes, and with over two billion and headroom, or local | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
authority should be. Right across the scheme, housing associations | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
will be building a home for every home sold. Under the reinvigorated | :39:39. | :39:47. | |
scheme across this country we are seeing one for one, and in London | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
two homes built for everyone sold. We are building even more, and that | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
success will be repeated on a grander scale. Whether right to buy, | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
starter homes or help to buy, when buyers can buy, builders will build. | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
We can support the aspirations and we will support the aspirations of | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
those hard-working people. Mr Deputy Speaker, these plans are at the | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
heart of our ambition to build a million new homes. We are clear that | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
we must go further and faster in all areas of housing by. The Housing and | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
Planning Bill as part of this. It will give house-builders and local | :40:22. | :40:25. | |
decision-makers the tools and confidence to deliver more homes. I | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
know that honourable members across this house will want building on | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
Brownfield land to be that first choice at all times. Under this | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
government, Brownfield land will be prioritised. New homes will be built | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
near existing residents so the green belt and local countryside is | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
project -- protected. Regenerating eyesores and derelict land to create | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
modern homes for the next generation is the opportunity lying ahead. A | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
new statutory register Brownfield land will provide up to date and | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
publicly available information on land suitable, and 40 Brownfield | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
housing zones are created across the country, including 20 in London. I | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
thank the merit London for working with us to deliver those homes in | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
London. -- I think the Mayor of London. We want to see planning | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
permission in place for 90% of these sites by 2020. We will change the | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
planning process to allow urban development corporations to get on | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
with developing homes at the earliest opportunity. Smaller firms | :41:30. | :41:31. | |
in particular will benefit from quicker and simpler ways of | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
establishing where it is what they can build, especially with the new | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
form of permission in principle for site is on the brownfield register. | :41:38. | :41:48. | |
During the last Parliament, we reformed and streamlined the failing | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
top-down planning system. We dismantled regional spatial strategy | :41:55. | :41:58. | |
is and my Secretary of State, as planning minister, was able to | :41:59. | :42:01. | |
oversee and reduce thousands of pages of planning just 250, a system | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
people can understand and work with. So today people, local people, are | :42:08. | :42:10. | |
in control. He mentioned making it easier to | :42:11. | :42:20. | |
establish urban development corporations. Will he reflect on | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
establishing rural development corporations with powers to make | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
things happen quickly? I am always open to look at any ideas local | :42:30. | :42:32. | |
areas have to drive forward this kind of growth and we are talking to | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
areas who want to be part of delivering for their communities. He | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
has championed this work and I will be happy to work with him. What we | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
are seeing is a trusted local people moving away from the top-down days | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
of Labourpastors working. Seeing people develop their plans for | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
house-building and the system is faster and more efficient. Since | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
2010 planning permission for 50% higher for new homes and the number | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
of plans has doubled. Neighbourhood planning has captured the | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
imagination of communities across the country with 125 referendum is | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
being held, each one approved by democratic mandate. Not every local | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
authority has got to the same place and that is why if they are not in | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
place by 2017 the government will work to ensure plans come forward so | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
that all local areas have the plans they might want for the woman's they | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
made. We have come long way from the great housing crash of the last | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
decade when housing building was in danger of stopping altogether. We | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
took the tough decisions to get Britain building again. We are | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
cleaning up the mess we were left and are moving from recovery to | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
revival. We are determined to deliver a better housing market that | :43:56. | :44:02. | |
secures our economic recovery, Bruce productivity and rebalances the | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
economy. Our plans go beyond numbers and schemes and are about people, | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
their hopes and dreams, supporting their aspirations and giving them a | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
place to raise their families. One nation won whoever you are, wherever | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
you live, you can walk through the doors of opportunity and into a home | :44:24. | :44:36. | |
of their own. -- your own. The motion before us is a scatter-gun | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
approach to what is a very important topic. It is aimed at the last five | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
years of the Coalition Government and the current direction it has | :44:45. | :44:53. | |
taken but it is standard dig at the SNP Scottish government of theft | :44:54. | :44:55. | |
that is going to transform Labour's fortunes north of the border. -- as | :44:56. | :45:07. | |
if. This ties in with decades of housing policy which covers | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
government so I want to touch on that. There is no doubt the roots of | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
the current housing crisis them back to the original housing act of 1980, | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
an act that Labour had contemplated bringing in before losing power. | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
This act led to the decimation of housing stock across the UK with the | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
biggest problem being that these houses were not replaced because the | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
monies brought in from the sale of stock were either used offset debt | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
or reclaimed by the Treasury so it was impossible for councils to | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
replace the stock. If we fast forward in Scotland the SNP has | :45:54. | :45:56. | |
recognised this issue and that is why we have scrapped right to buy so | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
as of this year at the right to buy of council houses has been | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
eliminated in Scotland and we are opposed to the right to buy | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
extension to housing associations. By removing right to buy and | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
opposing it in housing associations it prefers Stoke, allows the new | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
build of social housing to meet local housing needs. Labour had 13 | :46:21. | :46:28. | |
years to do this and did not do it and did not do it in power in | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
Scotland for a year is. Labour could have invested in a council house | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
building programme but chose to leave affordable housing to the | :46:39. | :46:41. | |
markets and social landlords. It is a sorry state of affairs that the | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
Coalition Government build more council houses in five years than | :46:49. | :46:55. | |
the Labour government did in 13. In Scotland BSN P has delivered over | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
6000 council houses compared to that Labour delivered while in power -- | :47:02. | :47:11. | |
the SNP. Greater house-building makes more sense. Councils can | :47:12. | :47:18. | |
borrow at the law rate and target regeneration. Things I was involved | :47:19. | :47:30. | |
in with the spear show council. Things put in by the Coalition | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
Government are right to buy, what council is going to invest in | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
council houses built when their stock is at risk of being sold off? | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
The same goes for extended right to buy for housing associations. They | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
cannot borrow securely when they do not know what their future | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
representation will be because their houses can be sold off and that | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
distorts the model that housing associations were built on. Touching | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
on the one-to-one replacement, despite what we heard from the | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
housing minister, it is a sham. It is based on a three year cycle, | :48:08. | :48:16. | |
three years which allows for houses getting out the ground so when they | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
said they have achieved that it is comparing the first year of right to | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
buy was replaced, replacements over a three year period but there has | :48:27. | :48:29. | |
been a massive increase in right to buy since then on to stay on track | :48:30. | :48:39. | |
against increased right to buy they have to increase the number of | :48:40. | :48:46. | |
houses built. Only 730 starts and acquisitions this year. For the | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
first six months the government has only achieved 15% of their target. | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
The one-to-one replacement will not happen and when you combine that | :48:55. | :49:01. | |
with the sale of high-value council properties this government is going | :49:02. | :49:04. | |
to take a bigger situation in the long term rather than do something | :49:05. | :49:07. | |
to sort it despite what we have heard. There is no definition of | :49:08. | :49:14. | |
what one-to-one replacement is. The target is a national one so does | :49:15. | :49:22. | |
compel councils or housing associations to replace houses | :49:23. | :49:35. | |
locally -- does not. In Scotland the local needs and supply assessment is | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
a prerequisite of government funding so the SNP is making sure that it | :49:40. | :49:47. | |
takes into account local needs assessments and that is the proper | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
strategic overview and that is the only way you can manage housing | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
stock. Another major issue I have with the right to buy policy is that | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
councils are forced to subsidise homeownership through the sales | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
programme as well as fund the rebuilt without any government money | :50:05. | :50:12. | |
being added. Monetary experts agree this is time to invest in | :50:13. | :50:16. | |
infrastructure. If this government was to use the ?10 billion -?12 | :50:17. | :50:23. | |
billion subsidy that is being used for the right to buy for housing | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
associations it could create additional housing and that would | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
help tackle the housing problem and create more jobs and lead to a more | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
sustainable model. If the government was willing to put money up front | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
that would also lead to better consequentials for Scotland and the | :50:44. | :50:50. | |
SNP have used that wisely. The right to buy major effectively privatised | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
housing associations. I draw a parallel to an earlier reading of | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
the Scotland bill where it was proposed to devolve the Crown | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
estates. The member for Somerset made a defence of Crown Estates | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
because it was completely against the principle of not imposing a | :51:10. | :51:12. | |
change of ownership but there is nobody on the benches opposite | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
willing to come to the defence of housing associations. It is the same | :51:18. | :51:26. | |
change of ownership. Under right to buy large houses have all but | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
disappeared from council stocks. This has led to private renting | :51:32. | :51:34. | |
increasing to compensate. This drives up housing benefit costs | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
which is counter-productive to the taxpayer in the long run. Many sold | :51:40. | :51:48. | |
properties end up in the rented sector where somebody has exercised | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
the right to buy and dyes and passes it on to the family and the family | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
has no need for the flat and it ends up in buy to let. A study by Glasgow | :51:59. | :52:07. | |
University it is estimated that in Renfrewshire this cost the taxpayer | :52:08. | :52:14. | |
?3 million a year and 40% of flats in England are sold under right to | :52:15. | :52:20. | |
buy and have ended up in the buy to let market. That will only increase | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
going forward under the extended right to buy for housing | :52:24. | :52:33. | |
associations. We heard in the Autumn Statement there would be a levy on | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
people who buy additional homes which are supposed to provide some | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
income to the Treasury and have a balancing effect on the market but | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
there is an all doubt that will not actually do anything. It will give | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
the council a little bit more money on one hand but the returns buy to | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
let landlords will offset that live on the taxpayer will still pay more | :52:56. | :53:02. | |
money in the long run. It is almost guaranteed the only way the housing | :53:03. | :53:05. | |
benefit bill is going to be reduced is further punitive measures by this | :53:06. | :53:16. | |
government. I think I have made it clear I am against extended right to | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
buy for housing associations. It is going to lead to social cleansing. | :53:22. | :53:26. | |
That might not concerned people on these benches. It is going to lead | :53:27. | :53:41. | |
to a clearing out. I will answer that anyway. It is not an | :53:42. | :53:48. | |
intervention. I can guarantee they are getting a discount, getting the | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
money from the taxpayer as the discount and will sell the property | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
and property developers will move in and demolish and rebuild and there | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
will be an ongoing moving out of people and social houses will not be | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
be built in that area to people on lower incomes will not be able to | :54:06. | :54:15. | |
rent. I should be pleased I am getting a little bit of chuntering. | :54:16. | :54:23. | |
That is maybe a good thing. If we switch to affordable homes it is | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
affordable homes that have to be affordable and that is something the | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
SNP has made sure is the case as part of our planning going forward. | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
That is not the case here and a cursory glance at my local estate | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
agent in Kennington honourable I have a flat, the costs are mind | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
blowing for one-bedroom flats and properties and I can understand why | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
London has a housing crisis. In Scotland the SNP has delivered | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
30,000 affordable homes since 2011 with ?1.7 billion of investment and | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
if re-elected it is committed to 50,000 affordable homes of which 70% | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
will be available for social rent. Despite what the motion says this | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
commitment has been welcomed by shelter Scotland, the chief | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
executive welcomes the SNP commitment going forward. We have | :55:18. | :55:20. | |
had no such commitment from Labour as yet in Scotland. | :55:21. | :55:31. | |
Although against extended right to buy we are not against homeownership | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
and I accept the original right to buy was welcomed by many families | :55:38. | :55:44. | |
and many people have benefited from it but the scheme has had its time | :55:45. | :55:50. | |
and it seemed to move on. Some of the rhetoric in here comes back to | :55:51. | :55:53. | |
either being for or against homeownership and I do not think | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
that is the right message. I have concerns the UK Government proposals | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
at the moment for help to buy and wait to buy are going to encourage | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
more people to borrow. Interest rates are at an all-time lows of | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
Beedle might be on the cusp of affordability but when interest | :56:12. | :56:14. | |
rates go up it is going to be a risk to their affordability. The | :56:15. | :56:20. | |
one-to-one replacement, although the government talks about reducing | :56:21. | :56:23. | |
borrowing the one-to-one replacement is funded by additional borrowing by | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
councils and housing associations so it is still a net overall borrowing | :56:28. | :56:34. | |
affect, and housing associations are added to the public debt. There is | :56:35. | :56:37. | |
no benefit from doing what the government is doing. | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
The long-term economic recovery plan appears to me to give discount to | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
homeowners, it will increase personal debt, forced borrowing | :56:50. | :56:52. | |
elsewhere for replacement housing so, all in all, it is not a plan at | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
all. To meet real people's requirements, | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
we need more houses built, we need them based on local needs and demand | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
requirements. They need to be truly affordable homes, they should also | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
be energy-efficient. This will deliver health benefits and also | :57:13. | :57:15. | |
reduce the long-term housing benefit bill. With the house-building | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
programme on it would create more jobs, in prayer the welfare bill by | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
having more people working and improve the Treasury income. That is | :57:24. | :57:27. | |
a strategic one that I suggest the Government should work too, the | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
Scottish Government is doing its best to implement that and it | :57:32. | :57:33. | |
certainly will do if we are re-elected next year. | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
We are going to start with a five-minute limit and then see how | :57:39. | :57:41. | |
we get on. If we can keep interventions to a minimum, we can | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
keep it at five minutes. Sorry, point of order. | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
Given that housing is completely devolved, as I understand it, to | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
Scotland, it doesn't seem reasonable that the Scottish National party | :57:58. | :58:00. | |
should take up about 15 minutes when there are many backbench colleagues | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
who wanted to speak and now you have imposed a time limit on what is an | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
extremely important issue. Excuse me, or. Order. That isn't a | :58:11. | :58:17. | |
point order. But the S is the third party, therefore their | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
spokesperson has every right to make his speech. Also I think we should | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
keep this kind of thing to a minimum so that we do not eat more into the | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
time about engines. Richard taken. The right honourable gentleman the | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
member for Wentworth started the debate by ferry to five years of | :58:37. | :58:39. | |
failure. I don't know where he is, he seems to have donate. He spent a | :58:40. | :58:45. | |
little time in the chamber, he did not turn up to the committee stage | :58:46. | :58:49. | |
at all, which struck me as odd foray shadows in and stuff. He should have | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
referred to five years of recovery from the dreadful situation we | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
inherited. I enjoyed his speech, I thought... Not at all. Go one, | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
madam. I'm very grateful. Unfortunately my bright honourable | :59:05. | :59:08. | |
friend has had to go and meet the Minister because of what is | :59:09. | :59:11. | |
happening to the decimation of the steel industry in his constituency. | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
I understand that, that is a very good reason for not being here. I | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
enjoyed his speech, particularly the reference to under the money | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
inherited from Labour. I had to say, there was no money. I don't think he | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
got a memo, the memo written by the member for Birmingham Hodge Hill | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
that played a significant part in the general election. The Prime | :59:35. | :59:37. | |
Minister carried it with him, the memo said there was no money. We | :59:38. | :59:42. | |
have been facing not five but 50 years of failure. In truth, from all | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
governments, who have worked on the flawed assumption that only the | :59:48. | :59:50. | |
Government can solve this problem. For 50 years, Government has been | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
part of the problem getting in the way of allowing the supply of | :59:56. | :59:58. | |
housing to rise to meet demand. We had quite a lot of finger wagging | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
from the honourable gentleman, but nothing in the way of solutions. I | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
listen to opposition members for many weeks in the Housing and | :00:09. | :00:10. | |
Planning Bill it to you and heard a lot of whingeing but not really any | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
solutions. -- in the housing and planning committee. Why does supply | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
not rise to meet demand? We do not talk about the shoes crisis, the | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
genes crisis, the DVD crisis, the Czech writers, everybody is wearing | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
a pair of shoes, including you and, if I may say, they are very nice. | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
Nobody says we need a national shoes service to sob this problem. My | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
honourable friend should move along, they are very nice. We have a broken | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
model, in truth, and this Government seeks to fix it. What I find so | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
depressing is the paucity of ideas from the Labour benches, the sheer | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
paucity of radicalism. Almost every amendment proposed by them cheering | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
the Housing and Planning Bill committee stage would have had the | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
effect of slowing things down, sand in the gears, a spanner in the | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
works. They don't seem to recognise that they are seeking to make the | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
problem of supply even worse. Last week Kevin McCloud addressed to our | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
number ten self build summit. I was very pleased it could. He said that | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
the consumer has been on the receiving end of the pretty poor | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
deal. We build some of the poorest, most expensive and smallest houses | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
in Europe. That is not something to celebrate. That according to Ipsos | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
MORI, 53% of the adult population would like to build a house at some | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
point, 30% in the next five years and more than 1 million people would | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
like to buy a site and start in the next 12 months. This can be done at | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
stale -- scale. In the Netherlands they have revenue can do this | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
service plots for over 3000 dwellings. One council is doing it | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
in Oxfordshire with over 1900 service to plots. This is the way to | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
help supply rise to meet demand, put the customer at the centre. The | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
Housing and Planning Bill, with its chapter on self building custom | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
housing building, will make that happen. The gent Mark Roe for | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
Wentworth did not mention self build and custom house building. As for | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
affordable housing, and there are legitimate reasons why local | :02:22. | :02:23. | |
authorities might want to have and maintain affordable housing, local | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
councils could and should, in my view, use of their ?22 billion of | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
reserves to establish and promote and grow neutral housing properties | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
for affordable rent. It is completely normal in Berlin and | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
elsewhere on the continent. These are not even relevant in terms of | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
right to buy because they are people entering into contact with | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
themselves to form part of a co-operative. I thought there was | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
something called the Co-operative Party. Be heard nothing about it. | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
The local authority leader who showed the most interest in this | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
when asked about the issue of in perpetuity social rents in big | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
cities was the Conservative leader of Westminster Council, who said | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
very seriously with a gleam in her eye, yes, we are looking back. From | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
the Labour benches, I am afraid heard nothing. We need vision and | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
imagination, this bill will make it easier to achieve. Instead of | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
building the most poorly performing, most expensive and smallest homes in | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
Europe we should do things differently. We should use our | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
imagination and knowledge to make the best places that we can with the | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
best performing homes that we know how to build in the most beautiful | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
surroundings that we know how to create when people will be able to | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
get an education, find the skills they need for life, perhaps start | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
their own business, put down roots, build a house or have someone build | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
a house to their own design, raise a family, be part of a community. | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
These are all normal human aspirations, we had to make a normal | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
to achieve them so as, just in the rest of Europe where housing supply | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
rises to meet demand, it happens here as well. That is the vision we | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
should pursue, and this Government with this Housing and Planning Bill | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
will make it happen. Julie Elliott. The Government record and housing | :04:23. | :04:24. | |
over the last five years is sadly one of failure. Its failure across | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
all parts of the housing sector. It is a failure driven by short-term | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
is, incompetence and a lack of understanding of how millions of | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
people live their lives. People in my constituency this very different | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
lives than the people the honourable gentleman before me from South | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
Norfolk was describing. Most people in my constituency are in very low | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
wages, often on very short contracts. Getting a home of their | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
own is a dream too file. Being able to self ills, absolutely out of the | :04:59. | :05:08. | |
question. On house-building since 2010, this Government has presided | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
over the low level of homes built in peace time since the 1920s. This | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
fact does not become dulled by repetition. Is made, muddled | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
thinking has given way to contradictory policies. The | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
Government gives with one hand and takes away with another. The | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
Chancellor's Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed in the | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
November economic and fiscal outlook that Government policy since the | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
election will lead to 234,000 fewer housing association homes being | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
built over the next five years. I share the Government 's desire to | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
create a property owning democracy for those that want to own their own | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
home, I can only assume that the Secretary of State shares my | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
disappointment that home ownership under this Government has fallen by | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
over 200,000 to the lowest level in 30 years, below the EU average for | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
the first time on record. To choose a time period at random from 97 to | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
2010, the number of homeowners rose by over 1 million. The rise of | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
insecure working practices such as zero-hours contracts and | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
underemployment has meant that many people cannot say for a deposit or | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
get a mortgage at all because they do not have a permanent contract. | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
The state of social housing in many parts of the country is close to | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
breaking point, with waiting lists of many years. If the Government is | :06:37. | :06:38. | |
unsure why this might where the fewest number of homes for | :06:39. | :07:08. | |
social rents were built in at least two macro decades, the number of | :07:09. | :07:10. | |
affordable homes provided in the last year fell by over a quarter | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
compared to 2010. This Government simply does not get social housing. | :07:14. | :07:15. | |
A Conservative member of the committee referred to social housing | :07:16. | :07:17. | |
is housing of last resort. Let me say, I was born in a council house | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
and I grew up in that house in that community. It was my own. Council | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
housing provides a safe, warm place for millions of people to call home. | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
It is not housing of last resort. The Government proposals in the | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
Housing and Planning Bill currently going through this house, scrapping | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
tenancies for life, RA disgrace. This Government should be ashamed of | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
proposing such a change. This Government has made it harder to | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
build social homes by choking the planning system. It is consistently | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
watered down -- it has consistently watered down the affordable home | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
requirements. Wealthy honourable member his day job as Mayor of | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
London, and I notice he is no longer in this place, has banned Labour | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
councils from insisting on the building of genuine social homes | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
through one in six agreement in his London plan, against the guidance of | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
the planning inspector but with the approval of the former Communities | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
Secretary the Right Honourable member for Brentwood longer. With | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
homeownership and unattainable ambition for many and social housing | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
in short supply, it should come as no surprise that the private rented | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
sector has enjoyed tremendous growth. Whilst there are many good | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
private landlords providing decent homes for their tenants, there are | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
many that this means daily instability, short-term tenancies, | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
typically of six months, poor standards and rent increase at a | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
pace outstripping wages. Because we are so near finishing I shall say by | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
every metric in whatever part of the housing sector the situation has | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
deteriorated in the last five years, I hope the Government can start to | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
address the differing and diverse needs of families across this | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
country with a comprehensive strategy that does more than simply | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
manage decline. Stephen Hammond. Thank you, Madam | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the honourable lady. My | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
conclusion from looking at every metric is different to hers. The | :09:23. | :09:24. | |
Right Honourable member for Wentworth opened in his usual way, | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
but behind the Buster the only conclusion you can draw from looking | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
at statistics is that the Labour Party left a housing crisis in this | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
country -- behind the bluster. Under them, house-building was the lowest | :09:37. | :09:44. | |
since the 1920s, social housing availability decreased and those on | :09:45. | :09:53. | |
the waiting list increased. There can be a number of solutions, but we | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
have heard a paucity of ideas. We have delivered 750,000 new homes, | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
more affordable homes and council house building is now at its highest | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
level for 23 years. I was pleased to see him year, the Mayor of London | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
has a record to be proud of, on track to deliver 100,000 more | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
affordable homes over two macro terms. I was very pleased also, | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
being a London member, to hear that in both the Autumn Statement and the | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
Budget, the Chancellor ensured there was housing news across the country | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
and opportunity across the country. I was delighted as a London member | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
to see an extension of the very successful help to buy scheme, which | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
saw 120,000 households in the last parliament get on the ladder. It was | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
extended to London and it will be really important for the measures | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
that the Government is putting in place in London to work. It is clear | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
that this Government does not lack ambition and is not complacent. In | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
London, the commitment, and I heard the honourable member from the front | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
bench say why doesn't the Government sell-off some of its own land? The | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
London land commission will do exactly that. That'll be hugely | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
powerful for delivering those extra affordable homes in the term of | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
office where the member for Richmond Park takes over as Mayor of London. | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
All I would say, and I know that my honourable friend who is in his | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
place the Minister will know that the London land commission will have | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
a review in a year's time, I hope when he looks at their review he | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
might contemplate bringing forward the powers of a duty to cooperate or | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
potentially a first right of refusal to the mare so if there are -- to | :11:44. | :11:52. | |
the mayor so if there are any local authority is dragging their feet and | :11:53. | :11:54. | |
holding a desperation to provide housing for Londoners, they can be | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
told very clearly that it is their duty to cooperate with the land | :11:59. | :11:59. | |
commission I get on with the job. The budget had a number of measures | :12:00. | :12:15. | |
of the number of houses. In particular, the for brownfield sites | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
is going to allow developers to bring forward, I think sites much | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
more quickly T will allow them to understand what is achievable. In | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
that regard, there are any number of large projects that may benefit from | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
that, but equally any number of small projects. Having the | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
confidence to know what you can do, then having the confidence to invest | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
in the technical detail, the detail that would also provide the | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
community support, the community infrastructure, and possibly even | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
the opportunity for self-build properties as my honourable member | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
for south Norfolk reminds us today, this is going to provide the | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
opportunity for quality developments from developers on brownfield sites | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
and yet today what we have heard from the opposition benches, people | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
who are waiting to move into those homes have been told, vote Labour, | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
it won't happen. And it's very clear there is a real difference in ideas | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
and in aspiration. I just say to the Minister, as I know he is in the | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
mood and the appetite to live even more than that million houses, that | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
there is a couple of things he could do. In particular, would he look at | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
the idea for small-scale developments of bringing forward a | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
plan that will allow developers to fast-track, maybe pay a small extra | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
fee to accelerate, but fast-track small developments, bring those | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
small developments through the process more quickly that has the - | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
it has a real opportunity to bring on some of those smaller sites. We | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
all want to see the big sites development but it's actually as | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
much the small sites that will help. This is a Government that is | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
absolutely right to be taking forward housing. It is the most | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
important issue for our country. It was largely ignored under 13 years | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
of failure opposite but under this Government we have an ambition to | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
build homes that this country wants to live in. | :14:10. | :14:18. | |
I have spent too many years in the trenches of the stratistical warfare | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
around housing supply and I don't want to do that in these minutes, I | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
want to talk a little about values. We heard about one value, an | :14:27. | :14:29. | |
important value from the Government party and that is the value of | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
aspiration of home ownership and that's an important aspiration, it's | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
a vital aspiration, most people want to own their own homes if we can and | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
we should help them do so. The fact the Government's proposals for | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
starter homes in my constituency require a household to have an | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
income of ?101,000 doesn't fill me with any confidence that need is | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
going to be met in central London any time soon. But nonetheless it's | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
an important aspiration. Mobility is an important value too. Because we | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
want to make the best use of the housing stock that we have and we | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
want people to be able to move for work and for other purposes around | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
this country. But there is another value that I want to spend my few | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
minutes talking about this afternoon. That is the value of | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
security. A home is not just an economic trons action. It's not just | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
what you spend your rent or mortgage on securing a bed for the night. -- | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
transaction. A home is something that you bring your family up in. | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
It's a community, it's something that means so much more to you. That | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
doesn't disappear because your income is low. A home means as much | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
to someone on a low income as it means to a millionaire and to the | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
person who is able to spend six million buying a home in the London | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
luxury market. And yet - I won't give way, too are too many people | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
wanting to speak. What we have seen from this Government, in particular, | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
although it didn't all start in 2010, of course, is an erosion of | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
the principle of security and it is an erosion that meets its worst | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
nadir in the proposal to scrap the security of tenure for social | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
housing. We see this proposal to scrap social tenancy and the | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
intrusion that will mean into the lives of the poorest and only the | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
poorest every few years as they are being required to justify their | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
home. But there are so many other ways too. There is the fact that | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
there has been a doubling of families with children who are | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
bringing those children up in a private rented tenancy where they | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
can only rely upon a 12 months assure shorthold and a Government | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
that refuses to do anything to address the desperate need for | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
longer security for people in the private rented sector. We have seen | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
an increase again in homelessness, coming down for many years from too | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
high a peak under the last Labour Government, but again Soaring. We | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
have seen a fantastic 827% increase in the number of families being held | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
illegally in bed and breakfast accommodation. We see families | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
living sometimes for years in nightly booked temporary | :17:15. | :17:17. | |
accommodation after they've been homeless. Insecurity is the new | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
normal but only for the poorest. So far from addressing that crisis, we | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
have seen a Government that now plans to extend it and entrench it | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
even more widely. The stories that my constituents and I think the | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
constituents of everybody on these benches, quite possibly from the | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
benches opposite that go unheard, are stories of people torn away from | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
their children's schools, torn away from their parents, from the people | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
they provide caring responsibilities for, torn away from their | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
volunteering, tosh away from part-time and even full-time jobs, | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
torn away from their communities. Their children above all suffer. The | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
enforced mobility that is forced upon families at the moment is | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
bringing about worse physical health, higher suicide risks, worst | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
educational achievement and we are building and entrenching that into | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
the lives of the poorest. I don't have time, sadly, to tell some of | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
those stories, Wye love to be able to do so. We know, not just from | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
anecdotes but from research done in Australia and America, just how | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
damaging this is. Communities as well as individuals suffer as the | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
people who are the building blocks of communities, people who are | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
registered to vote, people who are civic participants no longer can do | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
so as they're forced again and again to move house, move house every six | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
months, every year and now a social tenants to move house every three or | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
four years. I am just going to finish with a quote from Professor | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
Steve Hillage, a man who has over 40 years as been an academic and | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
deliverer of housing, he says this particularly in respect of the end | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
of social security tenancies, social rented house something our most | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
precious asset, its existence broke the inevitability that people on low | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
incomes and vulnerable people would endure home lness and dreadful | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
housing conditions, it removed the blight of bad housing from | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
generations of children. In my view, it was the strongest mechanism of | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
all to achieve genuine social mobility and give poor children the | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
chance and the opportunities enjoyed by better off people. I am grateful | :19:27. | :19:29. | |
to the opposition for calling a debate on affordable housing, it | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
gives me the opportunity to point out the different record of Labour | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
and my own party, both in national and local Government in supplying | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
affordable homes in Worcester. Affordable housing certainly is one | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
of the most pressing and important issues for me as an MP. It's the | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
single most commonly raised concern at my surgeries, although we haven't | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
seen the price inflation we have seen in the south-east it is a wage | :19:52. | :19:54. | |
worry for students and apprentices setting out to rent and young | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
professionals looking to buy a first home. A city of around 100,000 | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
people there is pressure to build affordable homes on brownfield | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
sites, to protect the stunning Worcestershire countryside, such an | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
asset to our county and to defend the flood pains on which we rely to | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
keep the river out of homes and businesses. I was pleased to hear | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
Worcester is one of the best councils at using the planning | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
system to protect flood plains. This is essential. For as long as anyone | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
can remember Worcester has been bombarded with Labour leaflets | :20:30. | :20:31. | |
telling people that Labour is the party of affordable housing. I can | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
remember fighting local election campaigns as long ago as 2001 where | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
every Labour leaflet was adorned with messages about affordable | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
housing. In 2003 the Liberal Democrats went into coalition with | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
Labour with the explicit aim of getting more affordable houses | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
delivered. If Labour had any track record of success in this space it | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
might have been understandable but knowing the important of affordable | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
housing I made it my mission to explore how it was delivered in the | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
past. The City Council figures tell a stark story of Labour neglect. | :21:01. | :21:09. | |
From 1997-2,000 in which Labour had a Labour MP, Labour of Government in | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
Westminster the council built fewer than 20 affordable homes per year. | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
Very few of these homes and none after 1997-8 were for affordable | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
ownership and when Labour had control of Worcester was of 22, then | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
11, then 19 I Fordable homes delivered, in a city of 100,000 | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
people. Not suppliesing lie Labour were turfed out of control of | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
Worcester in 2,000 and Conservative administration took control. What | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
happened to affordable housing delivery when those nasty Tories | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
took over, it rose 47% in the first year, more than doubled in the | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
second year and then ran all the way from 2002 to 2012 at an average of | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
112 homes per year, five times as many as Labour had delivered. Things | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
slowed down after we lost power in 2010 and yesterday they did. Labour | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
left us with the lowest race of house building since the 1920s. It | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
took years for the housing market to recover from the great recession | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
that began in 2008 but in Worcester we kept on building affordable | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
homes. In 2012-13 the council delivered a remarkable 117 units of | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
affordable housing, 79% of all new homes delivered in the city that | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
year under a Conservative administration. In 1978, will he | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
accept it comes as no surprise to thee things are better under the | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
Conservatives? I am cliented with the intervention. He may be less | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
delighted to hear that the year he joined was the year I was born. What | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
happened when Labour and the Liberal Democrats took control? Affordable | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
housing delivery slumped. Falling from 117 to 76, a decline of more | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
than 30 years in a year. Worst still, the fall in delivery of | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
housing meant a slowdown in receipts from the new homes bonus, a welcome | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
financial incentive, introduced by the coalition Government to support | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
delivery of affordable housing. Not open did Labour's chaotic year in | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
control mean a shortage it meant damage to the city's capital | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
receipts. Voters of Worcester seeing the record of Labour and the Liberal | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
Democrats who are absence from this debate, elected more Conservative | :23:12. | :23:14. | |
councillors in 2014 and these mean old Tories took back control of the | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
council again. The result, an immediate recovery in the number of | :23:19. | :23:21. | |
new affordable homes. The delivery of affordable homes in Worcester in | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
the last year is the highest on record since 1997 and out of 460 new | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
homes delivered in the city, 260 were rated as affordable. In 2015 | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
new homes bonus income ?2015 new homes bonus income from the city | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
rose to five million. The lesson here is really stark. Labour always | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
promise affordable homes but only the Conservatives actually deliver | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
them. I know very well that there is still a great deal more demand, it's | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
suggested this year's delivery is only the base line for what is | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
needed. We often see debates on building affordable homes as if the | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
only choice is to deliver them and concrete over green fields for give | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
up providing them although together. This is not true. In fact, wrzth of | :24:03. | :24:10. | |
homes delivered in Wayne's one year of control, this figure whatting | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
fallen even as delivery has increased to around 7-and-a-half % | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
in the current year. Looking ahead around 90% of the homes planned for | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
in Worcester's supply can be delivered in brownfield sites and I | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
hope that figure continues to increase. There is much that the | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
Government can do further to support the delivery of affordable homes in | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
brownfield sites and I am pleased to hear about the new brownfield fund. | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
I hope the Government will look into more mechanisms to support renting | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
above the shop and city centre living which I believe can help both | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
our high streets and the desperate need for affordable homes. I welcome | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
the Government's policies on help-to-buy which I have seen for | :24:46. | :24:47. | |
myself on the streets of Worcester, people who have been able to buy | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
their own home for the first time who wouldn't otherwise have been | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
able to. Particularly, the help-to-buy ISA. But I particularly | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
welcome the Government efforts to crack down on rouge landlords going | :25:00. | :25:02. | |
further than Labour ever did in 13 years in office to deal with this | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
serious issue. Today's motion is typical of the relentless negativity | :25:08. | :25:09. | |
we are seeing from today's Labour Party. It says nothing about the | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
aspiration of working families to live in homes they can own nor steps | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
taken, bigger than those under 13 years of Labour to regulate rouge | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
landlords. I am proud in Worcester under a Conservative Government and | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
council we are delivering more affordable homes than ever. | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
Before I call the honourable member, I am going to lower the limit to | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
four minutes. Thank you. I am grateful for the opportunity to | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
speak in this debate on housing. It is the single biggest area of | :25:40. | :25:41. | |
concern to my constituents. Whatever measure we take this Government has | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
failed to deliver the homes we need in the areas where they are needed | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
and at the pace which is required to address the housing crisis | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
unprecedented since the Second World War. If their own measure of success | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
is home ownership the Government has presided other a decline in the | :25:59. | :26:00. | |
number of home owners. If the measure of success is the housing | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
benefit bill, the current Chancellor has seen an increase of ?4. ?4.3 | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
million in this bill over the last five years, including a doubling of | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
the number of inwork households in receipt of housing benefit. If a | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
measure of success is the level of homelessness as it should be, we | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
have seen an increase of more than 50% in the number of people sleeping | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
rough since 2010 and an increase in homelessness as a whole of more than | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
a third. If the measure is the delivery of affordable homes, we see | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
perhaps the Government's most catastrophic failure, a decline of | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
almost 75% in the delivery of new homes genuinely affordable social | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
rents since 2010 and the introduction of a new affordable | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
rent that makes a mockery of the term. | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
In response to this failure, the government appears to be | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
constructing a new set of policies around a completely arbitrary | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
dividing line. Let's call it the aspiration threshold. Above this | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
line, which quantifies at a house price of ?450,000 in London, or an | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
income of ?90,000, with savings close to ?100,000, the government | :27:06. | :27:08. | |
recognises the aspiration all of us have too a stable home for the Lonca | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
term, to put down roots in our community, to know that our children | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
will be able to attend the same school for as long as they need. | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
Below this line, and the government does not recognise the legitimacy of | :27:21. | :27:22. | |
your aspirations. It seemingly believes that if you are a council | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
tenant, the most you deserve is five years of stability at a time. That | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
if you are in the private rented sector, it is entirely acceptable to | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
live with the threat of a no-fault section 28 eviction, that moving | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
your children out of the school where they are settled and away from | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
their friends in the search for an affordable home is an acceptable way | :27:43. | :27:45. | |
to live, and that because you are paying such a high level of rent and | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
cannot therefore afford to save Rome of your wrong, the aspiration of | :27:50. | :27:51. | |
homeownership should become harder and harder to realise. I do not | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
understand why the government is so focused on this arbitrary line. Most | :27:58. | :28:00. | |
people in my constituency want the same thing. They want a place of | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
their own that is affordable for them, secure, safe, warm and suited | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
to their needs. Most people do not want their aspirations to be | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
achieved at the expense of others. Housing association tenants who | :28:13. | :28:14. | |
would like to buy a home of their own do not want this to be at the | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
expense of an overcrowded family with two children in a one-bedroom | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
home, his aspiration to move to a council home big enough for their | :28:23. | :28:24. | |
needs will not be met at the government forces the council to | :28:25. | :28:27. | |
sell off its large family homes because they are the home of highest | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
value. -- homes. We need to build more homes across all tenures, not | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
one type of home and the expense of another. The Housing and planning | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
Minister came to the CIG select committee this morning and could not | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
give any assurances that all that the numbers underpinning his | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
proposed radical reform of housing policy add up. This house will be | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
asked to vote next month on a set of ideological driven, and costed, | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
unproven proposals housing and planning Bill, which is a pitifully | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
poor response to the biggest housing crisis this country has faced since | :29:00. | :29:05. | |
the Second World War. The government has a shameful record, and is | :29:06. | :29:08. | |
bringing forward and inadequate response. I hope the government will | :29:09. | :29:18. | |
listen,... Mr Speaker! I apologise. Mr Speaker, I hope that the | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
government will listen and bring forward a more convincing plan to | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
address the crisis we face. Thank you. After directing the | :29:29. | :29:35. | |
members to my register of interests, I would say what a pleasure it is to | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
speaking today's debate. I actually agree a lot with what the Minister | :29:40. | :29:42. | |
for Westminster North was taught me about when she said that housing is | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
largely about security, and I think we must accept in this country that | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
the British housing journey has changed. The private rented sector | :29:52. | :29:54. | |
is now larger than the social housing sector, and we have 11 | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
million people living in privately rented homes. To give members an | :29:59. | :30:06. | |
idea of the growth in the sector, it was 69% between 1993 and 2013. There | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
are over 1 million families with children living in the private | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
rented sector, and it is these families with children I hope the | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
Minister will turn his attention to today. In the mid-19 80s, the age of | :30:19. | :30:26. | |
first-time buyers was about 25. It is now over 30, and in some parts of | :30:27. | :30:35. | |
London, over 40. In the 1988 Housing Act, is a short-term tenancy was | :30:36. | :30:38. | |
introduced for people renting on a short-term basis while saving the | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
deposit to buy a home. It was specifically introduced for | :30:43. | :30:45. | |
students, professionals, and short-term renters, and in an age | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
when people are now renting for longer periods and with families, it | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
is my alternative that the short-haul tenancy can no longer be | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
regarded as fit for purpose for those people with families in the | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
private rented sector. Being in the private rented sector means you will | :31:03. | :31:05. | |
move more often, as we have seen from the figures, and people come | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
and see my advice surgery and say they have struggled all year to | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
maybe save ?100 a month towards a deposit for buying a house, only to | :31:15. | :31:17. | |
see that wiped out by the cost of moving, paying agency fees, playing | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
a new deposit on a private rented house, when they move. This is borne | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
out by Shelter statistics, who say that 60% of those in the private | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
rented sector, at the end of the month, have no money with which to | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
pay the rent. Santander SA that 49% of those in the private rented | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
sector have given up saving to buy their own home altogether. This is | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
why a welcome the government's Help to Buy ISA, which I think is hugely | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
helpful, and helps those in the private rented sector save up a | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
deposit, but I would also be grateful that the Minister could | :31:53. | :31:55. | |
update the house on his progress with the family friendly tenancy? I | :31:56. | :31:58. | |
have several written questions to his department, and I would be | :31:59. | :32:01. | |
interested to know how many family friendly tenants he has taken up, | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
what reassurance has been given to lenders who, at the time when I | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
worked in the Downing Street policy unit on this exact policy, were very | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
reticent to grant longer tenancies, because of a nervousness about | :32:16. | :32:22. | |
seeking possession if they went in as a mortgagee in possession, and | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
finally, to say, as I expect, the number of family friendly tenancy is | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
taking up is very low. Is it time for the government to think of | :32:31. | :32:33. | |
legislating in this area, bearing in mind that so many houses in the | :32:34. | :32:36. | |
private rented sector now have their rent paid by housing benefits? It is | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
surely not unreasonable for the government, where it is paying the | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
rent, to ask landlords to offer more security to the tenants. Finally, I | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
wanted to cover something very different. As we approach Christmas, | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
we will all be thinking, I think, of homelessness, and I just wanted to | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
mention Joan Aitken and Michelle Brindle in my constituency, who saw | :32:59. | :33:05. | |
the big issue seller, Carlos Maradona, who works outside a store | :33:06. | :33:11. | |
in Darwin. They set up a crowdfunding page so everyone in the | :33:12. | :33:14. | |
town could get behind him at Christmas and help him find a home. | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
I will tweet the link out after this debate, but I thought the house may | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
be interested to know, we have already raised ?1400. | :33:24. | :33:30. | |
I want to focus... Stop the clock, sorry. Apologies. I should just have | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
said, a three-minute limit will now have to apply to backbench speeches, | :33:36. | :33:38. | |
or we will have a lot of people not getting in. Three minutes, starting | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
now. I want to focus briefly on the | :33:42. | :33:47. | |
supply and demand in Bristol, where the situation for buyers and | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
particularly renters is challenging. Some sources of information I have | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
shown that property prices in Bristol have risen by anything from | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
seven and 9.9% in the last 12 months. One site shows that of 26 | :33:59. | :34:05. | |
sites monitored, only London, Cambridge and Oxford recorded a | :34:06. | :34:07. | |
greater percentage increase in Bristol. Ning Boxer property | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
investors from London and overseas has further influence on the Bristol | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
housing sales market. -- an influx. When considering told me he was | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
turned down for viewing a property because the estate agent headache | :34:22. | :34:24. | |
you are interested cash buyers. The property also felt -- the pressure | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
also felt the would-be buyers will be completed with the completion of | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
the London- Bristol commuter line, effectively putting Bristol on the | :34:35. | :34:36. | |
same commuter belt is Oxford. Looking ahead, the estimate is that | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
house prices will rise between four and 6%, but it could be up to 10% in | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
high demand areas like Bristol. So, possibly a good picture for | :34:48. | :34:50. | |
investors, landlords and buyers to let, but for young people | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
particularly, and people looking to get on the housing ladder, it is not | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
a good picture. Rents have also been rising through 2015 and are expected | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
to rise in 2016. A local estate agent in my constituency told a | :35:05. | :35:07. | |
local newspaper this month, if I look at our branch, there are 15-20 | :35:08. | :35:14. | |
enquiries a day for rental properties, and the suppliers maybe | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
4-5 a week. He said the numbers were chilling. I'm pretty sure the stamp | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
rise duty on second homes will have an effect, forcing people to think | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
twice, and it will take a pretty robust person to buy a property to | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
rent out. It is a bad thing for the government to do, because there was | :35:30. | :35:32. | |
a big shortage of properties to rent in the Bristol area, and it | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
exacerbates the problem. Other factors making the situation bleak | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
are still our prices at an average of ?210,000, but salaries at | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
?22,000. I dispute the assertion of the member from Peterborough that | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
that is affordable. There are 10,000 people in Bristol waiting the social | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
housing, thousands of properties standing still. There are some | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
councils in the south-west that are doing some good work. A local | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
council in Plymouth, which I have looked to, has plans for homes, | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
social rented homes, Andy Holmes, chartered social housing, and a plan | :36:07. | :36:09. | |
for rented housing. A Labour run council in the south-west of | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
England, a small blot of red on the blue that is the south-west of | :36:16. | :36:17. | |
England. Bristol and the local authorities need to learn this, but | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
the government needs to support local authorities that are trying to | :36:23. | :36:24. | |
achieve something, and the government itself needs not just | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
ambition, but a better plan. James cartilage. | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
I am a controlling director in a mortgage broker, and property portal | :36:35. | :36:41. | |
dedicated to shared-ownership, and also a chairman of the all-party | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
group on Housing and planning. When we speak about housing at the | :36:46. | :36:48. | |
moment, the result is the a focus on new build and on supply, but I think | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
still one of the most radical changes the government broke | :36:53. | :36:54. | |
through, as I mentioned in my intervention, is the change we are | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
making to buy to let. When we had the last opposition day debate on | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
housing last June, I spoken by to let and said I was looking for three | :37:08. | :37:10. | |
changes from the government, want to do with stamp duty, want to limit | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
tax relief, and one on mortgages. To have been delivered. On stamp duty, | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
I said it was completely unfair that a first-time buyer should pay the | :37:19. | :37:21. | |
same rate of stamp duty someone buying the 25th portfolio by to let | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
property, or a second home as a holiday home. The Chancellor has had | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
the courage to make that change, which no Labour Chancellor has ever | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
made. On tax relief, I said I thought it was wrong that first-time | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
buyers who no longer have homeowners, should not have tax | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
relief, where is buy to let Londoners do. Again, we are | :37:45. | :37:46. | |
addressing that. But it is controversial but in the one minute | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
and 44 seconds available, I wanted to remind people, having a backlash | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
from newspapers against is buy to let James, why it is Mrs A. The fact | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
is, the Bank of England, financial policy committee minutes so that the | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
rate of credit loss and buy to let mortgages in the UK has been around | :38:07. | :38:09. | |
twice that for residential mortgages, despite that they are | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
almost entirely interest only. 75% of buy to let lending remains | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
interest only. So in the last year, there will be ?28.5 billion lending | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
with no repayment of the debt. For me, any area of the economy that | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
requires nonrepayable into debt and tax breaks to survive is not | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
sustainable. For me, the buy to let sector has not been sustainable. | :38:35. | :38:36. | |
That does not mean we have something against those who wish to buy | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
property to let, and I accept people are using it as their pension. On | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
that point of, what it is my pension, while the government | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
hitting me, I have to say, if one change comes out of what we're doing | :38:49. | :38:51. | |
and by Colette, it is that we have to talk as a country about pension | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
reform, because it is so fundamentally important. That will | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
be a very, very important game that we get from it. As Lee Johnson said | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
in the Sunday Times, we cannot prosper as a nation of buy to let | :39:03. | :39:05. | |
landlords. We must also produce goods and services and export to pay | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
out where in the world. That need investment, not just foreign | :39:12. | :39:13. | |
investment, but our own, high savings ratio, and as a stable | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
economy. I believe a strong part of that is a sustainable housing market | :39:18. | :39:20. | |
in which first-time buyers have a reasonable chance of buying | :39:21. | :39:23. | |
properties that, at the moment, are being taken from them by those who | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
will then rent them out at the same first-time buyers. It is a fair | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
move, being brought in by this radical Conservative government. | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
In the brief time I have, I wish to highlight the problem and leads to | :39:36. | :39:38. | |
illustrate this is indeed a nationwide problem and not simply | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
one in London and the south-east. In Leeds, buying a home is increasingly | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
unaffordable, and that includes starter homes. According to the | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
Nationally Housing Federations in Europe and Humber, the house price | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
in Leeds -- current house price in Leeds is 78 times higher than the | :40:01. | :40:03. | |
medium earnings, depending on the figures you use. This therefore | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
makes a mortgage unattainable for vast swathes of the population. In | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
relation to starter homes, projections from the ONS and Commons | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
library have suggested that by Twenty20, they may cost around | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
?162,000 in Leeds, significantly below the cap, if that turned out to | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
be the case. The average income needed for such a property would be | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
?45,000, and the reality is, gross median income in Leeds is currently | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
around ?22,000. So unless median incomes double in the next five | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
years, starter homes will remain unaffordable. Indeed, Richard Lewis, | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
Leeds City Council's executive member for regeneration, has said | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
that the City Council's ambitions bring new generation of housing are | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
at risk, because of central government's focus on starter homes | :40:53. | :40:54. | |
above all other types of housing, and their attempts to mix housing | :40:55. | :41:03. | |
mix. The right to buy sell-off of council homes is seeing local | :41:04. | :41:05. | |
authority housing stock diminished with very little replacements. Over | :41:06. | :41:13. | |
the last three years, 1159 Leeds and local authorities properties were | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
sold, with only 59 replacements. That is a ratio of 20 21, and | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
renting is increasingly unaffordable for a wide radio groups. The Leeds | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
tenants Federation states that even council and housing association | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
properties, some people are spending between 20 and 40% on rent. Many in | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
Leeds are also struggling with private rents. Indeed, the council | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
has previously written to the Council And Local Governments | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
Committee to say, in the private sector, rents are now taking up an | :41:46. | :41:47. | |
increasing proportion of income, and increasing proportion of income, and | :41:48. | :41:50. | |
there is the issue of affordability across all sectors of the private | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
rental market. There is much to do. The Conservatives has in the last | :41:55. | :41:57. | |
Parliament blaming Labour, but that's since they won't wash any | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
more. They have their own record now, and on housing, both in Leeds | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
and across the country, it is five years of failure on every front, | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
with an affordable homeownership, rising rents, deep investment cuts, | :42:10. | :42:11. | |
building since the 1920s. There is a building since the 1920s. There is a | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
lot of work to be done, and the blame game has two and, and the work | :42:16. | :42:18. | |
as to start, and then be finished. Mr Speaker, it is as true today as | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
it was 30 years ago, when asked, over 80% of people aspired to buy | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
their home. On the other side of the equation, housebuilders make their | :42:32. | :42:34. | |
living by providing as many homes as possible. There is no lack of will | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
to build or a lack of desire to buy. The problems are due to the supply | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
side issues that exist in the marketplace. Supply constrained by a | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
planning process that is "not fit for purpose." Due to a shortage of | :42:49. | :42:53. | |
viable land, much of it locked away in public sector land banks. And | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
also due to the major demand side issue that house prices are out of | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
reach for far too many people. Mr Speaker, fundamentally, the supply | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
side issue is the one we need to resolve. Simplicity is the ultimate | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
sophistication, build more homes and most of the problems of | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
affordability will fall away. And we are building more homes. A 56% rise | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
in housing starts in 2010. Now, 136,000 a year and planning consent | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
at a post-recession high of 240,000 per year. This will inevitably lead | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
to more homes being built. I welcome the provisions of the Housing and | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
Planning Bill and its objective to increase house building and | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
homeownership, the brownfield register, the simplicity of starter | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
homes with a 20% discount, right to buy, the honourable Member for | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
Kilmarnock may be interested to know when we took evidence from Dr Mary | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
Taylor, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
Associations, asked if there had been a one-to-one policy for right | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
to buy, would she then have got behind that policy. She said she | :44:06. | :44:08. | |
might well have had a different view. Mr Speaker, one-third of all | :44:09. | :44:16. | |
people in relative poverty are there due to housing costs alone. | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
Additional homes created by right to buy and funded by making greater use | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
of taxpayer-owned assets held by local authorities will deliver | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
affordable homes to buy for shared ownership and to rent. I share the | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
comments from my honourable friend from Rossendale and Darwin, we need | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
longer, family-friendly tenancies and client monies protection for | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
letting agents. Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I touched earlier on the | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
huge swathes of land held in the public sector. The Government has | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
pledged to bring forward enough public sector to build 150,000 homes | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
over the next five years. I am concerned this land will be released | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
and we may need incentives to make sure surplus on underutilised land | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
in our public sector is made available for development to our | :45:08. | :45:10. | |
housing associations and the private sector. I offer strong support for | :45:11. | :45:13. | |
this Government's record on housing and believe that the new initiatives | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
providing the housing and Housing and Planning Bill will deliver a | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
market that works. Successive governments have failed to build | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
anywhere near enough houses. And the Government's current Housing Bill is | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
at least trying to deal with some of that fallout. However, like so much | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
of the current Government's policies, we are expecting those | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
with the least resource to pay for our mistakes. The Spare Room Subsidy | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
was the first assault on the very people to right this very wrong. I | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
worked with a young woman, who needed to go into hospital to deal | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
with her severe physical and mental health problems. Her child was | :45:55. | :46:04. | |
removed to foster care. Her daughter remained in kos ter -- foster care | :46:05. | :46:11. | |
to give them time to recover. She fast built up arrears and debts and | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
was evicted. This woman lost her home, her health, her daughter and | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
all she needed was a chance. Was it her fault that houses were not | :46:24. | :46:26. | |
rebuilt when they were sold off? I don't think so. Yet she paid the | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
price. The bedroom tax was an instrument meant to encourage people | :46:31. | :46:32. | |
to move out of their properties which could be used for a bigger | :46:33. | :46:35. | |
family, except it doesn't work like that if there is nowhere for them to | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
go. It makes money out of those who cannot bear it. The blunted-ended | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
policy fails to recognise the realities of people's lives. Some of | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
bill will do the same. I think the bill will do the same. I think the | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
intention of the Government to end lifetime and successive tenancies is | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
meant to free up properties. That is all very well and good. Life doesn't | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
work like that. When a choice comes for an adult child to give up their | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
own tenancy and move in and care for an elderly mother or father, people | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
have tough choices to make. When a victim of domestic violence is | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
rehoused with her children, will we say sorry, you have to move schools | :47:21. | :47:23. | |
in five years' time? Will the Government be giving funding to all | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
of the new housing officers that will be needed to make sure this | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
system works fairly? I wonder if any of the Ministers opposite have set | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
in the local housing queue recently? I have. It takes hours. I don't want | :47:35. | :47:38. | |
to moan, I want the Government to do something about this and I have some | :47:39. | :47:44. | |
positive suggestions. If you are going to encourage people to move | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
in-and-out more regularly, the Government needs to invest heavily | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
in temporary accommodation. There is no temporary accommodation with a | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
taxpayer funding bed-and-breakfast accommodation, with used condoms | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
stuff into the walls, dirty bids for families to live in. The Government | :48:03. | :48:05. | |
must invest in this. The Government must also look at models like in | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
Birmingham where we have a social lettings agency with an honest | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
broker, two-year tenancies and help with deposits for tenants coming out | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
of social houses. These are suggestions that the Government | :48:18. | :48:19. | |
should look at before they rush into something that will be showing up in | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
my surgeries in glorious technicolor. It is a great pleasure | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
to follow the honourable lady for Birmingham Yardley. Last Friday, I | :48:30. | :48:40. | |
visited a development in my constituency, and this is a mixture | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
of family homes for rent and for sale under shared ownership. I | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
mention this because I had the great pleasure of serving with many | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
honourable and right honourable members on the Planning And Housing | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
Bill Committee. I found that a lot of the conversation was very | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
London-centric, but the point I would like to make is that in many | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
parts of the country, in Lancashire, the starter homes and affordable | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
homes are affordable. There were homes there, family homes, under the | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
shared ownership scheme where on the average income of my constituency, a | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
family could get a deposit of between ?2,000 and ?5,000 or have an | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
equity stake in that house. I would remind all members that the world | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
doesn't end at the Watford Gap. Homeownership as we all seem to | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
agree is what most Britons aspire to, but there has been a problem of | :49:40. | :49:43. | |
getting more houses built. We have a growing population, we have more and | :49:44. | :49:46. | |
more people living on their own, we need to be flexible about what we | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
are building. I was particularly pleased with the measures about the | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
automatic planning permission for brownfield sites. I have got | :49:58. | :50:00. | |
experience of developing brownfield sites and in the past, remediation | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
works were very costly and they were difficult, but the fact is we are | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
getting better at this and prices are coming down. And these | :50:11. | :50:13. | |
provisions will start on the way to building more homes because as my | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
honourable friend said, we just need to increase supply, it is not the | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
whole answer, but we have to build more homes. And I think the | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
important thing about the outlying nature of this permission is it | :50:27. | :50:29. | |
gives reassurance to the developer that he can invest but still leaving | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
the right amount of risk on the business rather than on the | :50:35. | :50:36. | |
taxpayer. And if we were to change it from an outline permission to | :50:37. | :50:44. | |
make it more detailed, and winding it up, this would slow down the | :50:45. | :50:47. | |
process and there would be too much onus on the taxpayer rather than on | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
the developer. I also greatly welcome the Government's pledge to | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
bring forward more public sector land to build more homes. Again, in | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
the Bill, it is forward-looking. We are tackling rogue landlords and I | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
particularly welcome the investment in garden cities. This Government is | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
determined to deliver more homes. The Housing and Planning Bill will | :51:10. | :51:16. | |
go a great way to doing that. Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is evident that | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
there are members such as the Member for Rossendale and Darwin who are | :51:21. | :51:25. | |
strong supporters of English votes for English laws and who question | :51:26. | :51:28. | |
why we are speaking on a matter that should be devolved to the Scottish | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
Parliament. I would point out to members that Scotland is mentioned | :51:33. | :51:35. | |
in the motion we are debating today. And the fact is that housing is one | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
of these areas where the headline statement of devolution is seriously | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
undermined by a haphazard split of responsibilities between this place | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
and the devolved administrations and as a result many of the decisions | :51:48. | :51:57. | |
taken... The UK Government has stated it wants to transform | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
generation rent into generation buy. It is no bad thing to buy your home. | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
But it must be financially sustainable, it must be right for | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
your circumstances, it must not be at the expense of future housing | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
stocks. The UK Government must focus on alternatives, too. We have heard | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
concern on both sides about homelessness, which is a real issue. | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
I would point out that members we should concern ourselves about this | :52:23. | :52:25. | |
all year and not just at Christmas. This UK Parliament has lost its | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
focus on the quality and quantity of housing and I agree with my | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
honourable friend that this can be dated bah tock the 1980 Housing Act | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
when the Thatcher Government introduced right to buy. This policy | :52:39. | :52:50. | |
has been popular with beneficiaries. And this Conservative Government is | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
going forward than Mrs Thatcher. Owner occupation is seen as the | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
normal thing for all households regardless of income, exactly the | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
approach that led to the American sub-prime scandal, this policy has | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
been described as people on the cusp being able to buy are being nudged | :53:09. | :53:10. | |
over the edge and the Government's thinking is the social rented sector | :53:11. | :53:18. | |
is a temporary stopgap where tenants shouldn't regard their residence as | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
a permanent home. These policies are a smash and grab raid by the | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
Chancellor on the assets of the social rented sector. Forcing | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
councils to sell their best assets, strengthens social segregation that | :53:33. | :53:35. | |
scars too many parts of the country and the forced sale of housing | :53:36. | :53:42. | |
association properties amounts to abandonment. The contrast between | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
this shambles and the action being taken by the Scottish Government | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
couldn't be starker. Instead of viewing housing as a weapon in a | :53:56. | :53:57. | |
political game, the Scottish Government acts on the basis that | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
decent accessible and affordable housing is central to the delivery | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
of many other policy objectives. If we in Scotland had built houses | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
since 2007, we would have 42,000 less homes than we do. In fact, we | :54:11. | :54:14. | |
have committed to something the UK Government no longer does to build | :54:15. | :54:20. | |
those social and affordable housing. Thank you. And I draw members' | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
attention to the register of interests. I would like to start by | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
replying to some of the points the Shadow Housing Minister made at the | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
beginning about the respective track records of this Government and the | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
last one. I would like to particularly draw attention to the | :54:37. | :54:39. | |
number of housing starts across the country as a whole in the last year, | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
which was 165,000, compared to his last year as Housing Minister, when | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
it was 124,000. A 33% increase by the current Government which is an | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
extremely impressive record. The Member for Sunderland Central, who I | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
can see in her place, also drew attention to affordable housing. And | :55:00. | :55:03. | |
I am similarly pleased to report to the House that according to House of | :55:04. | :55:08. | |
Commons Library figures, last year there were 67,000 affordable houses | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
delivered, compared to 58,000 in the last year at the last Labour | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
Government. I think there is a record to be proud of. Let me turn | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
briefly to the Housing and Planning Bill. I was privileged to serve on | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
the Bill Committee for 17 sessions with the honourable lady from the | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
city of Durham. But not the member from Wentworth who did not grace us | :55:31. | :55:35. | |
with his presence. I was also disappointed to hear the lack of new | :55:36. | :55:39. | |
ideas in his speech earlier. I thought from a Shadow Housing | :55:40. | :55:42. | |
Minister we might have heard more. There is a great deal in the Housing | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
and Planning Bill to welcome not least the idea that every single | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
local authority must have a local plan by 2017, the local development | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
orders to give outline planning consent on brownfield sites that my | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
honourable friend from rible south mentioned a few moments ago and, of | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
course, in London, the London land commission bringing forward public | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
sector land, the GLA have done that successfully, 98% of their land is | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
being brought forward and if I could suggest an idea to the Minister from | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
Nuneaton, I believe the London Land Commission should be given more | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
powers to take hold of the surplus public sector land identified and | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
bring it forward to make sure departments like the NHS or Network | :56:28. | :56:35. | |
Rail or Transport for London do not delay. If I could suggest one or two | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
other ideas. Some parts of the planning process can be cumbersome, | :56:40. | :56:47. | |
with reports on bats and newts and if there are any ways that could be | :56:48. | :56:49. | |
lightened up, it would be welcome. In similarly, I know many developers | :56:50. | :56:58. | |
would be happy to pay higher planning fees if, in exchange for | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
that, they had guaranteed faster decision-making, perhaps with the | :57:03. | :57:06. | |
extra fees being refunded if the service level was not met. I hope | :57:07. | :57:09. | |
the minister will take those constructive ideas in the spirit | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
they were intended, but in summary, having sat on the Bill committee for | :57:15. | :57:17. | |
17 sessions, I am absolutely confident it will increase the | :57:18. | :57:21. | |
supply of new homes and promote homeownership, and I strongly | :57:22. | :57:29. | |
welcome it. It was Mr Pooter from Diary Of A | :57:30. | :57:36. | |
Nobody in 1892 who was the average London nobody, but he could not live | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
the way he did then today. The spectator said his homeward bound be | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
?1 million, his salary would be ?40,000. As a clerk, in Ealing, a | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
typical suburban place of today, these figures are astronomically | :57:51. | :57:53. | |
high. They are placing what is supposed to be an average home out | :57:54. | :58:01. | |
of reach of the average Joe and Josephine suburbia was intended for. | :58:02. | :58:10. | |
A terraced house in W five this year is ?781,000, from the Land Registry | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
figures. And so, the subject we are looking at today, the government's | :58:16. | :58:19. | |
housing record, has been an abject failure on homelessness, | :58:20. | :58:21. | |
homeownership, house building, rent, and crucially, supply. Shelter, an | :58:22. | :58:29. | |
objective charity, says that by channelling existing public | :58:30. | :58:32. | |
resources to build homes that can only be afforded by those on high | :58:33. | :58:37. | |
incomes, there is 100 needy thousand affordable low rent homes that are | :58:38. | :58:40. | |
not going to be built or sold as a result of these changes in the | :58:41. | :58:45. | |
Housing and Planning Bill. We're seen the goalposts move several | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
times. Affordable, for rent, now, can mean up to 80% of market rent, | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
which is just not realistic. These subsidised starter homes have been | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
trumpeted, but then a nonstarter for people in my constituency. In | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
Ealing, average current earnings are about 34 point ?5,000 at the moment. | :59:05. | :59:08. | |
If you wanted a shot that just a one bedroom starter home, let's say in | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
W13, and I have all the different postcards here, you are doing 37,000 | :59:16. | :59:24. | |
532. 90,000, 531 elsewhere. And this one point -- this meant reduction at | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
first sight looks good, but it has unintended consequences. I went to | :59:32. | :59:34. | |
the reopening of the YMCA four yea we have in my constituency recently. | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
They have sunk all of their assets into this, and it was based on a | :59:39. | :59:45. | |
business plan of rising rents, and they think they're going to be | :59:46. | :59:49. | |
completely sunk with this. Supported housing should be exempt from this. | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
That is a massive oversight. Mandatory pay to stay. There are so | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
much I could say. 40,000 means to incomes of 20,000, not a princely | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
sum in London. It is an attack on aspirations, something that this | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
side obviously keeps talking about. Our capital city is being hollowed | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
out as we pay more and more for housing, and we are becoming more | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
and more insecure at the same time. The Spectator Normal | :00:14. | :00:23. | |
my fear is that it is not just Mr Pooter and the likes of him being | :00:24. | :00:31. | |
forced out, leaving the place to bankers and oligarchs. | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
I welcome the opposition's choice of motion for this debate, although | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
express some disappointment at the lack of humility in the manner in | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
which the Shadow minister move that motion, given as an underwhelming | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
record in government. But as he correctly says, this is a topical | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
issue, and I am sure, towards the top of most of our postbag. It is | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
addressing the challenges of housing, of rent, of the | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
affordability of homes, which is one of the major challenges facing us. | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
But to be honest, it deserves more than some of the rehashed diatribes | :01:15. | :01:23. | |
that we had opening the debate. What we are seeing from this government | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
is the largest land building programme in decades, which will | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
help to address the fundamental problem behind both availability of | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
housing and affordability of housing. As my honourable friend for | :01:37. | :01:46. | |
South Norfolk correctly said, the elephant in the room is the issue of | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
supply. Why is there this market failure that we don't see in other | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
areas of the economy? And part of it is a regulatory failure. Government | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
can't control all of the levers that affect supply, but it is right that | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
we do what we can to eradicate some of the barriers to that market | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
entry. At the core of addressing this must be two things. The first | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
is action to bring brownfield land back into productive use for | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
housing. That is why I am so pleased that the government is introducing | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
this assumption of planning consent for brownfield land, but also, that | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
devolution deals, in particular, around the country, and I know that | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
devolution deal has been reached for my own region, the West Midlands and | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
combined authority, with the powers and investment to bring brownfield | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
land, but the ticket the lake contaminated brownfield land, back | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
into use, so that it can be part of the land supply for our housing | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
market. That is obviously good for the environment rather than using | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
green space. It is good for housing, but also good for the economy. The | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
second area that needs to be addressed to increase supply is | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
preventing the planning system becoming a bottleneck to housing | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
being made available. Here, I think the action the government has taken | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
to move away from regional spatial strategy towards local plans, but | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
also introducing planning in principle, is absolutely vital, and | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
will hopefully mean that we have the supply to match this record | :03:33. | :03:40. | |
house-building programme. Members who picked up the Nacho on | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
the tube will have seen that Hammersmith featured in this week's | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
property section, and the average property is over ?1 million. They | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
did manage to find a basement flat for ?425,000, which would be just | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
within the starter home bracket. You would need an income of just 100 | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
?100,000 to snaffle that. But the new development, given permission by | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
the previous council and their social housing, is more typical. A | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
two-bedroom house for 1.2 million, or a three-bedroom flat in Sovereign | :04:12. | :04:19. | |
Court for ?2.2 million. This is why an occupation has dropped from over | :04:20. | :04:28. | |
40% just over 30%. The zebra by foreign investors from the UAE, | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
Malaysia, whatever, and then either left empty rented out, which is why | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
the private rented sector has gone up, but they are all unaffordable. | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
I'm afraid I include in that the 85% of council right to buys which are | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
now rented out. 85%. At market rates, and mainly to local | :04:49. | :04:50. | |
authorities, who are now paying three or four times what it would | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
cost in council compensation. We know what the housing list of things | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
about this, because recently, he said, if you want to live and work | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
in and around London, it is like making a judgment call about what | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
you can afford, in other words, on your bike. There is one type of | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
housing that is affordable. 30% of accommodation still my constituency | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
is social housing. Most past governments, irrespective of party, | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
would have regarded that as an asset. Not this government. What are | :05:16. | :05:28. | |
they doing? They are selling a housing association homes so they in | :05:29. | :05:31. | |
turn can turn into buy to let at market rates, and selling of 50% of | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
the remaining 12,000 council stock in order to subsidise that sale. We | :05:35. | :05:36. | |
thought when my voters voted to get rid of the Conservative council that | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
was selling up empty council properties, warehousing and emptying | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
council flats, and having zero homes in new developers, they thought we | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
would have got rid of that, but now we have a government with a Housing | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
and Planning Bill which is bringing it all back. There will be no social | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
homes built in the future, nothing that is affordable to my | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
constituents. But I am pleased to see me honourable friend for | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
Westminster North sitting next to me, because her speech hit the nail | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
on the head as far as the most disgusting thing this government is | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
doing, removing security from people who live in council homes, telling | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
people living council that they have temporary housing as a way of | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
charity, rather than as a permanent home to build up -- bring up their | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
family. The government has reversed its position and pay to stay housing | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
associations. That is welcome. Do that for everybody. Let families on | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
modest incomes continue to live in securing gums in London in and | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
around the country, and end this appalling thing of ending security | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
and tenure for council tenants. We are simply not building enough to | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
keep up with both the demand and the challenges which many of our | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
constituents face in order to buy a home of their own. Government | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
initiatives radical and welcome, but I would advocate going further, with | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
some of the following policies being considered. Firstly, with respect to | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
building and green spaces, in the constituency I represent, almost 80% | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
of Bexhill and Battle is designated as an area of outstanding national | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
beauty. There is a sausage of land afforded for local implement, but | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
where it is, it is situated in brownfield sites. With the tens of | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
thousands of houses that my council intend to build a designated a | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
brownfield implement sites, then when will our current and next | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
generation of workers and homeowners work? -- where will they were? In | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
one parish, the village had petitioned the District Council to | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
allow a small housing complex to be built on a green field just outside | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
the building boundary. By campaigning to build on this green | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
site, hedging and now has a new school, new village hall, and new, | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
affordable housing, all courtesy of that bold move. I would like the | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
government to make it easier to allow parishes and town councils to | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
make these decisions. Where a District Council has a plan, | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
parishes and towns are required conform to that plan, or their own | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
local plan will not be approved by the District Council. I would like | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
to free parishes and towns from the shackles of district planners. If | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
they want to designate the site, let them do so, and let them override | :08:06. | :08:08. | |
district plans for their parish or town if they are within planning | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
laws. Secondly, to deliver more infrastructure. While the argument | :08:14. | :08:16. | |
is being run that we need more housing, real concern exists the | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
communities will not have the schools, doctors, and other | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
essential public services until the housing has been completed. If | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
authorities could deliver infrastructure at the same time as | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
building commences, the public might embrace more housing and even ask | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
for more housing if, say, a new secondary school was built with a | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
few hundred houses. I would like to see local authorities given the | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
power to borrow money against receipts for new homes bonuses, | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
which of course, will only work if new homes bonuses are extended as | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
long as the plans are. Thirdly, turning consent into new homes. The | :08:51. | :08:53. | |
amount of land where planning consent has been granted but work | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
has not commenced continues to cause concern. The lack of building not | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
only adds to the problem of the shortage of housing numbers, it also | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
denies local authorities to connect receipts from local housing and | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
infrastructure Levy. I would support a policy whereby developers are | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
required to pay a first instalment within 12 months of planning consent | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
being granted, but not upon completion. This policy would not | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
only incentivise house-building and increased, it would also local | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
authorities to deliver vital infrastructure in parallel with | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
house-building. The need to tackle our house-building shortage is a | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
huge priority. It is a national tragedy more is not being done, and | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
I support the government with what is being done. | :09:40. | :09:42. | |
Two minutes. Cambridge in the grip of a housing | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
crisis, and I have 110 seconds. I will start by quoting an e-mail from | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
a constituent recently, which encapsulate the problem. She writes: | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
I live, work and pay my council tax in Cambridge. Housing in Cambridge | :09:55. | :09:57. | |
is almost as expensive as London these days. I was very excited to | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
hear about the Help to Buy ISA, but Cambridge at the same threshold as | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
London, 450,000. Looking for places to live right now, it is this | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
happening that only four macro properties to meet our criteria of | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
four bedrooms, and the government's criteria of a maximum ?250,000, | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
within a five mile radius of Cambridge. How are we supposed to | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
buy, afford, and raise a family in Cambridge? Four properties. Four. | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
Maybe there is an answer to the question. I personally doubt it, | :10:30. | :10:31. | |
because I don't think this government has a clue about the real | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
problems facing young people in Britain today. Young people like my | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
constituent can't afford to buy, and they have to rent. Do we hear | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
anything from this government about helping renters? I don't think so. | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
They are really listening, they would know that when houses prices | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
become unaffordable in areas like mine, the nature of the private | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
rented market changes. Young families who would want what are | :10:55. | :10:56. | |
staying longer in the rented sector, but the legislation has not kept up, | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
nor has the government. Let this get my points about the attack on social | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
housing, and conclude by saying a bit about the impact on business. -- | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
let me skip my points. My right honourable friend recently visited | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
my constituency, and I think even he, experienced on these issues as | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
years, was shocked by the consistency of the message from | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
employers. In every sector, a thriving life sciences and tech | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
sector, through universities, major public sector employees like the | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
NHS, the message is absolutely clear. We cannot recruit and retain | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
staff while housing remains so unaffordable. This is not just about | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
housing. It is about social justice and intergenerational justice, and | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
at the start of my speech, I quoted a question from my constituent. I | :11:42. | :11:44. | |
would urge the Minister to answer it. How are we supposed to buy, Ford | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
and Thank you, Mr Speaker. We have had a | :11:48. | :11:59. | |
very wide-ranging debate and we have had contributions from all sides of | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
the House, including from the members from Wimbledon, South | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
Ribble, Croydon South, Ealing Central and Acton and Cambridge and | :12:12. | :12:20. | |
we had a passionate speech from the Member for Birmingham Yardley and | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
the Member for Sunderland Central spoke about the shortage of social | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
housing and, most interestingly, the Member for South Norfolk spoke of | :12:28. | :12:29. | |
his well-known interest in his well-known interest in | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
self-builds and his less known interest in the Deputy Speaker's | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
shoes! It is clear that the housing crisis is one of the greatest | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
challenges to face our country in recent times. Members across this | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
chamber know the impact the housing has on their constituents' lives. | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
The Member for Worcester spoke of his own casework which mirrors mine | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
with my advice surgeries, my inbox, telephone line filled with people | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
suffering as a result of the housing crisis. Rent costs are rising, there | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
are poor standards in the private rented sector, ever-increasingly | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
homelessness, statutory homeless and rough sleeping, and the Government | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
committed to see the end of social housing sector as we know it. Fewer | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
homes built than at any time since the 1920s and a generation of young | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
people priced out of the property market. For five years, the | :13:15. | :13:17. | |
Government had the chance to tackle this housing crisis head on, I | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
believe they failed. It has never been more important to tackle the | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
housing crisis because housing affects everything. It affects our | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
whole lives. It affects health, education, productivity. Without a | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
secure roof over our heads we face uncertainty, instability and doubt, | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
stable homes make stable communities. And without safe, | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
face pressure across our whole face pressure across our whole | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
society and public services. It affects our schools and our | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
children's education. With unsettled classes affected by churn and | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
individual children falling behind as they move school again and again. | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
It affects public health with our doctors who struggle to coordinate | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
health awareness campaigns as a result of instability in the housing | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
sector with residents moving between practices. It affects our | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
communities. Where many are unable to set down roots and commit to a | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
local area, to join local organisations, sports teams, this | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
was a point made by the Member for Westminster North. The Government | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
claimed they will build more affordable homes, but the affordable | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
rent is not affordable to many people. In London, it would swallow | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
up 84% of the earnings of a family on an average income. It requires a | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
salary of ?74,000, but it doesn't just affect London. We heard from | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
members from Bristol South and Leeds East that show us that this is a | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
national crisis, not just a London crisis. And for many of those who | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
cannot afford to buy, they have to live in the private rented sector. | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
The Government's failed to increase security and improve standards and | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
we have overseen private rents reach an all-time high. Once the private | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
rented sector was mainly for students and young professionals, | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
but it's now families and the vulnerable that live in the private | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
rented sector. This was spoken about by the Member for Rossendale and | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
Darwin. Nine million people rent privately. Almost half of those who | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
rent are over 35 and they want the same security and stability they | :15:18. | :15:19. | |
would have if they owned their own home. But they face insecure, | :15:20. | :15:25. | |
assured short-hold tenancies and a Government refusing to encourage | :15:26. | :15:33. | |
long-term tenancies. While they pay more, the Government is failing to | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
act on improving standards in the sector. While the majority of | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
properties in the private rented sector are well maintained, there | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
are sadly too many landlords who do not let properties that are fit for | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
human habitation. The Government's own statistics say 16% of private | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
rented sector dwellings are failing the minimum safety standard and when | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
my colleague for Westminster North introduced a Private Members' Bill | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
to ensure that homes were fit for human habitation, it was talked down | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
by members opposite and argued it would put a huge burden on | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
landlords. We are short for time so I cannot give way. The Member for | :16:13. | :16:20. | |
dull witch and West Norwood touched on the Housing Benefit Bill. The | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
Government's Housing and Planning Bill included an all-out attack on | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
social housing. On the last day of the Committee they added a last | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
minute amendment to end secure tenancies for social tenants without | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
any consultation or impact assessment. I would like the | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
Minister to respond to two questions. One is: If homeownership | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
is the only way forward, where are people who cannot get a mortgage | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
meant to live? Also, can the Minister confirm that starter homes | :16:52. | :16:53. | |
are meant to be for first time buyers and won't be available to | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
cash buyers? The Housing and Planning Bill will lead to a loss of | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
affordable homes. The Bill is a missed opportunity to tackle the | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
housing crisis head on. It is a missed opportunity to provide | :17:08. | :17:09. | |
greater security, stability and safety to tenants in the private | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
rented sector and a missed opportunity to offer a handout to | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
those who want to get on the property ladder. We have seen an | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
Autumn Statement that has failed to provide a for a programme of | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
affordable house building. The Conservatives have had the chance to | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
tackle the housing crisis. They have failed. They have their own track | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
record. It is one of five years of failure. They should and will be | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
judged on it. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank all members of | :17:47. | :17:49. | |
the House for taking part in a lively debate. Mr Speaker, before | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
addressing the contributions of honourable members, I'm sure the | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
whole House will appreciate a reminder of what has been achieved | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
since 2010. Back then, the housing market was broken. We inherited a | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
planning system that was dysfunctional and levels of house | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
building were tumbling. The economy and public finances were on the | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
brinks of collapse. Enormous progress has been made since. Almost | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
900,000 new homes have been delivered in England since 2010. In | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
the last Parliament, the number of first-time buyers doubled. The | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
number of new homes we built doubled. Public support for new | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
house building doubled and since 2010, we have helped over 270,000 | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
households buy a home. We have provided over 270,000 affordable | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
homes for rent with nearly one-third of those in London. And we are the | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
first Government since the 1980s to finish their term with a higher | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
stock of affordable homes. A reformed planning system gives far | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
greater weight to the views and needs of local communities. But in | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
this Parliament, we want to go much further. The Government's investment | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
is being doubled to ?20 billion over the next five years. It will support | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
the largest housing programme by any Government since the 1970s. Our | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
ambition to deliver one million more homes and double the number of | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
first-time buyers. Mr Speaker, I will now turn to the points raised | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
by honourable members in the debate. My honourable friend for South | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
Norfolk, Wimbledon, Worcester, Rossendale and Darwin, South | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
Suffolk, Thirsk and Malton, Dudley South and Bexhill Battle, all made | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
fabulous and important contributions. To mention a few of | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
the things that my honourable friends mentioned, my honourable | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
friend for South Norfolk explained the importance of self-build and | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
praised the measures in the Housing and Planning Bill to promote | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
self-build. My honourable friend for Wimbledon pointed out that council | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
house building is now at its highest level for 23 years. Knocking down | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
the myth promoted by the party opposite. My honourable friend for | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
Worcester, and it was good to hear my honourable friend for Worcester | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
point out that it is the Conservatives in local government | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
and not Labour who are providing affordable houses in Worcester. I | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
was also pleased to hear the welcome he gave for our crackdown on rogue | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
landlords. My honourable friend for Rossendale and Darwin stated the | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
importance of first-time buyers and the help to buy Isa that the | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
Government is bringing forward. My honourable friend mentioned the | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
measures the Chancellor is making to make things fairer for first-time | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
buyers. My honourable friend made a great point about the importance of | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
additional housing that will be provided by the right to buy | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
receipts. My honourable friends for South Ribble and Dudley South made | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
encouraging comments about planning in principle on brownfield sites. My | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
honourable friend for Croydon South mentioned the London Land Commission | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
and the potential for public sector land to be brought forward as a | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
result of that. My honourable friend for Bexhill Battle was a strong | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
advocate for neighbourhood planning. That brings me to the points made by | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
the honourable members opposite. I wanted to start where my honourable | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
friend, the Housing and Planning Minister left off. He mentioned back | :21:34. | :21:36. | |
to the future to describe the approach of the party opposite. He | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
was right. Having observed this debate, the party opposite certainly | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
have a past which they are still harking back to. But they have very | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
little, it seems, of a future to look forward to if today's debate is | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
anything to go by. The honourable gentleman on the | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
front bench, and the honourable lady, spent 40 minutes in total in | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
relation to their opening speeches and their wind-up speeches. And they | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
did not put forward one idea as to how the issues that we currently | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
face, the biggest issue facing the country, one of the biggest issues | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
facing the country, and they did not put one idea forward. It was all | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
about soundbites, all about empty rhetoric, and ideology, rather than | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
pragmatism to help people get into their own home. For some reason, | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
members opposite seem very happy to own homes themselves. But when it | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
comes to other people having the chance to own their own home, they | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
don't seem to want it. On this side of the House, we want people to have | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
the chance and the opportunity to own their own home. 86% of people | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
want and desire that opportunity. In relation to the rest of the speeches | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
that the back bench members made from the benches opposite. There | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
were eight speeches that were extremely consistent with their | :23:10. | :23:11. | |
front bench because within those eight speeches there was not one | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
idea or anything put forward to try and deal with the issues that the | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
country faces. There was one notable exception. The lady for, the | :23:23. | :23:29. | |
honourable lady for Yardley, made several constructive comments and | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
gave several ideas that we will obviously look at in the context of | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
this debate. Mr Speaker, Britain has come a long way over the last five | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
years. A journey that has taken us from the brink of bankruptcy to the | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
fastest-growing advanced economy in the world. Confidence has returned | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
and living standards are rising. More people are buying homes and | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
house building is on the rise. But we must go further and this | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
Government is under no illusion about the scale of the progress that | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
is required. In the last five years, we have pulled house building up | :24:05. | :24:07. | |
from the record lows of the previous decade and in the next five years we | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
intend to push it up further to levels not sustained since the | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
1980s. The challenges we face today have been many decades in the | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
making. And so, our focus moves us from rescue to reform. We must | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
address the deep structural weaknesses in the way that this | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
country plans and builds for the future, a better housing market will | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
be vital for raising the productivity of our country and | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
rebalancing the economy. Above all, it will ensure Britain is a country | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
of opportunity, where everyone who works hard can realise their dream | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
of homeownership. The housing association tenant, the young family | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
who want to settle down, the retired couple who want to build their own | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
house. They all voted for a better housing market. And that's what this | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
Government is absolutely determined to deliver. | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
THE SPEAKER: The question is as on the Order Paper. As many of that | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
opinion say aye? Aye. Of the contrary no. No! Division, clear the | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
lobby. | :25:14. | :25:17. |