Flooding

Debate between Lord Pickles and Geraint Davies

Monday 10th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Pickles]

I know that my hon. Friend has had some particular problems. I looked carefully at the figures for building where there was an acute risk of flooding, and I am delighted to tell him that the number of buildings in high-risk areas is at an all-time low. I am also pleased to say that where there have been objections from, say, the Environment Agency, they have been adhered to on 99.3% of occasions.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

As the former chair of Flood Risk Management Wales, charged with adapting Wales to climate change in respect of flood risk management and flood systems, may I ask the Secretary of State why he has failed to apply for EU solidarity funding, which gave this country £162 million in 2007 and has given another 23 countries £3.5 billion since 2002? Is it because he is against European money because he is prejudiced or is it because he thinks there is a greater priority for investment than flood risk management for devastated communities? They are upset in Somerset—very upset.

[Mr Pickles]

I answered this the last time I appeared in the House. The reason is that there is a threshold of €3.7 billion to get over, and even should we get over the excitement of getting over the threshold to get the EU money, the way the system works means we would have to pay most of it back.

Housing

Debate between Lord Pickles and Geraint Davies

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Pickles]

I will give way in a few moments. Would it be possible for me actually to say something before the hon. Gentleman intervenes?

Once upon a time, the last Labour Prime Minister, advised by the current Leader of the Opposition and shadow Chancellor, announced that he had abolished “boom and bust”. It was a debt-fuelled illusion of a boom, resulting in the biggest budget deficit in our peacetime history and a crash that devastated the housing market—all that was on Labour’s watch. Let us cast our minds back to 2008—

[Geraint Davies]

rose—

[Mr Pickles]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman can remember 2008. The then Housing Minister, the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint), was photographed outside Downing street with her speaking notes. No doubt the right hon. Member for Leeds Central was in the Cabinet and waiting to be briefed. This is what her notes said:

“Housebuilding is stalling…New starts are already down 10% compared to a year ago. Housebuilders are predicting further falls.”

The notes also said:

“We can’t know how bad it will get.”

We know now that it would become far worse.

[Geraint Davies]

Will the Secretary of State confirm that lending from banks for mortgages now is at the 2008 level but lending from banks to business and construction is 30% down, which is why house prices are escalating out of control and real wages are falling through the floor? When interest rates go up in a couple of years there will be a burst of the housing bubble and sub-prime debt.

[Mr Pickles]

The hon. Gentleman needs to look a little outside London given where he represents. He could even look in some parts of London. Newham, for example, saw a drop of just under 1% in house prices. If we take out the London figures—figures for parts of London can be very spectacular—and look at the rest of the country, we will see that the increase in house prices has been very modest indeed. Not even in London have the figures reached where they were in 2007, so to talk about a housing bubble is ridiculous.

Cost of Living

Debate between Lord Pickles and Geraint Davies

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)]

As the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) has said, this has been a full and wide-ranging debate, covering energy prices, climate change, housing policy, heavily fruited confectionery and a brief excursion into the world of J. R. R. Tolkien. The debate was opened by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey) who, among other things, gave the House a masterclass on Professor Hills’ theory of fuel poverty. That clearly demonstrated that my right hon. Friend is completely on top of the job.

The right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) announced three Labour policies. Just like buses—you wait around for ever, then three come along in quick succession. She rather dampened the House’s excitement, however, when it was discovered that she was merely reheating some old policies.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) spoke knowledgeably about the need for biodiversity offsetting. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) reminded the House why the coalition was formed: it was to deal with Labour’s poor record in Government. He went on to speak with great knowledge about the current situation in Syria, as did my hon. Friends the Members for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) and for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke).

My hon. Friend and neighbour, the Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing), spoke about conviction politics. My hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Mr Ruffley) warned about an ever-closer union. My hon. Friends the Members for Brentford and Isleworth (Mary Macleod) and for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) spoke of the effect of interest rates on the cost of living. My hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) spoke about climate change and the lack of sustainable development in Middle Earth. My hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen and Rowley Regis (James Morris) made some telling points about the impact of fuel duty on the cost of living, and my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins) talked about the need for co-operation between the private sector and local authorities.

We must congratulate my hon. Friend and neighbour, the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), on being perhaps one of the most influential Back Benchers and on the marvellous work he has done on fuel duty. He spoke about the effects of taxation. My hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans) said that he had grown up on a council estate under the James Callaghan Government, and that that was why he was a Conservative. I am slightly older than him, and I grew up on a council estate under the Harold Wilson Government. That is why I am a Conservative.

As my hon. Friends the Members for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) and for Gloucester (Richard Graham) said, council taxes more than doubled under Labour, taking bills up to £120 a month for a band D home. The coalition Government have worked with councils to freeze the council tax, and bills have fallen by 10% in real terms. The freeze was opposed by Labour, however. The leader of the Labour group in the Local Government Association, Councillor David Sparks, said that councillors were wrong not to increase their taxes. Labour’s local government spokesman in the Commons, the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) said that the freeze was

“nothing more than a gimmick”.—[Official Report, 17 January 2011; Vol. 521, c. 531.]

The Leader of the Opposition dismissed it as involving a “small amount of money”. Actually, the freeze has resulted in a cumulative saving of up to £425 on average band D bills over the last three years. For most people, £425 is a lot of money, but I recognise that, for Labour members, it is nothing. For the right hon. Member for Leeds Central, it is probably just an average morning’s takings in the tea room at Stansgate Abbey.

We have reformed council tax support as well. Spending on council tax benefit doubled under Labour, but we are getting it under control. Such benefits cost taxpayers £4 billion a year, which is equivalent to roughly £180 a year per household.

[Geraint Davies]

rose—

[Mr Pickles]

I wish I had time, but I cannot give way.

Welfare reform is vital to tackle Labour’s budget deficit. Under the last Administration, more taxpayers’ money was being spent on benefits than on defence, education and health combined.