Housing and Planning Bill
Debate between Lord Jackson of Peterborough and Seema Kennedy
Seema Kennedy
I have great respect for the hon. Lady and the work she does on her Committee, but, with great respect to the Opposition, this is not a debate just about London, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry) pointed out. Much of the debate in Committee and the Chamber has been about London. There are affordable houses, and I know that in London there are many. However, there are 590 MPs who represent areas outside London.
Mr Jackson
It was a great pleasure to serve with my hon. Friend on the Bill Committee. She touches on an interesting point. Does she agree that none of our witnesses was able definitively to demonstrate that, leaving aside London and most of the south-east, starter homes with the right vehicle, such as Help to Buy, would be unaffordable? For the vast bulk of England, they were affordable.
Seema Kennedy
Indeed. Those happy days in November and December that we all spent together in Committee were an unalloyed joy. With the right vehicle, such as the Help to Buy ISA, and with shared ownership, starter homes are affordable in many areas, including developments that I have visited in my constituency of South Ribble. For the generation between 20 and 40, which has been disproportionately affected by the increase in house prices, starter homes are a way to get on the property ladder, and we should all welcome the commitment to build these 200,000 homes.