Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Love Excerpts

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that devolution, city deals and the growth plans we have put in place for every local enterprise partnership area are an incredibly important part of delivering infrastructure. He refers to two projects that are very important in the city he represents and I would, of course, be delighted to meet him and any other interested colleagues to discuss them.

[Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)]

One hears the pious words of the Chief Secretary regarding house building, but has he not presided over the lowest level of house building since the 1920s?

[Danny Alexander]

In case the hon. Gentleman does not remember, he was present in the last Parliament when his party was in government and caused the most severe economic crash that this country had experienced for very many decades. The housing market, of course, gets affected by the economic cycle, which is precisely why this Government have presided over the highest level of affordable house building in this country for 20 years. Under the hon. Gentleman’s party, the number of affordable houses in this country fell by 421,000; under this Government, it has risen by hundreds of thousands.