Business of the House

Alistair Strathern Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The hon. Gentleman will know that this issue is a priority for the Prime Minister, not least because of his experiences when he was the Mayor of Manchester. We are very keen to see schemes unblocked so that we get new homes, but we want to explore all sorts of other possibilities as well. Should the hon. Gentleman seek an Adjournment debate or a Westminster Hall debate, perhaps he could get the latest from Housing Ministers and the Minister for Homelessness about what further action is envisaged by the Government.

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the much-loved Next Page Books in Hitchin to learn more about its “Ask Me What I’m Reading” campaign, which is getting people right across the town talking about the joy of a good book. I have always been a huge fan of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, but could I tempt the Leader of the House to share with the rest of us what he is reading at the moment? Perhaps we could have a statement from the Government about what more we can do to support much-loved independent booksellers such as Next Page.

[Sir Alan Campbell]

As my hon. Friend will know, this year we launched the National Year of Reading 2026 to encourage good habits and to address the long-term decline in reading enjoyment. I thank the “Ask Me What I’m Reading” campaign for helping us to achieve that. In answer to his question, I am currently reading “The Generals” by Iain Dale, a collection of essays on leadership and generals. It is about how to improve leadership, and when I have finished it I am going to lend it to the Leader of the Opposition.