Andrew Love
Main Page: Andrew Love (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)Department Debates - View all Andrew Love's debates with the Leader of the House
(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Sir George Young
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for reminding the House that the compounded saving of two years’ freeze is worth up to £147. I pay tribute to those local authorities that have been able to make sometimes difficult decisions to pass those benefits through. He also contrasts the record of the coalition Government in our first two years with the record of the previous Labour Government, under whom, as he said, council tax doubled.
Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the report by three independent housing organisations on the emerging housing crisis? The report confirms that, last year, only 109,000 homes were completed, which is much less than the 140,000 homes completed on average under the previous Government, and less than half the number that the Government know would meet demand. Homelessness is also on the increase—it is up 27%—and more than 600,000 are affected by overcrowding. Home building, therefore, is a win-win situation: it will increase growth, which the Prime Minister will talk about today. Will the Leader of the House provide Government time for a debate on housing and how we achieve better economic growth?
Sir George Young
As a former Housing Minister, I take a close interest in this matter and have seen the report to which the hon. Gentleman refers. We inherited a not very positive record from the previous Government: the lowest peacetime house building since the 1920s. I am sure he will welcome our affordable homes programme, which is set to exceed expectations and deliver up to 170,000 affordable homes and a £1.3 billion investment to get Britain building. I hope he will also welcome what we have done to enable planning decisions to be made more quickly, to make public land available to house builders, and to help first-time buyers. I hope, too, that he will welcome our fiscal decisions, which, crucially, enable interest rates to remain low, helping first-time home buyers.