Baroness Blackstone
Main Page: Baroness Blackstone (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Blackstone (Lab)
My Lords, let me pick up the point my noble friend has just made. Given that there is a consultation, I completely understand what the Minister is saying. However, it is obviously sensible to delay Report so that this House can have a proper opportunity to peruse the regulations in detail.
Lord Campbell-Savours
My Lords, let me add that the danger is that the Bill will be treated as a skeleton Bill under the Cunningham report. I always oppose voting on fatals, but we may find ourselves having to vote on fatal Motions because it is the only way we will be able to deal with amendments that we should have been able to deal with in primary legislation.
During my modest contribution, I mentioned a number of abuses. Will the Minister assure us that each of those that I quoted will be considered and dealt with by officials, and that if they believe my comments were accurate, they will be dealt with in the regulatory arrangements?
Baroness Blackstone
When is that date going to be? Of course consultations should be meaningful; they are often not, but I hope that this one is. Still, it would be useful to know the timetable that the Government have in mind.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
My Lords, if you look at the demographic, you see that it is this age group that is restricted. I take the noble Baroness’s point about accountants and doctors, but it takes quite a long time to earn a decent salary in either of those professions—I am married to someone in one of them. It is the age group that has been so badly restricted, and that is why the age group was selected.
Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, I am very sorry to interrupt the Minister yet again, but on various occasions during this debate she has talked about abuse. The biggest abuse of all, which will be a consequence of the Bill, is very highly paid young people in their 30s benefiting from a very large discount—in London, it could be £80,000 or £90,000. Surely the Government should be concerned about that. It will bring the legislation for starter homes into disrepute, and rightly so. I reiterate the concern around the House about this issue and ask the Minister to reconsider whether there should not be a government amendment on this issue.
Baroness Grender (LD)
My Lords, the Minister has ruled out a mortgage but, in this context, perhaps the Government could right here, right now, today rule out cash buyers. That gives us something more specific to hold on to here. Or can the Minister envisage a cash buyer in this scenario who would not have an unnecessary advantage?