Brandon Lewis
Main Page: Brandon Lewis (Conservative - Great Yarmouth)
John Healey
My hon. Friend the Chair of the Select Committee is right on both counts. His Committee is conducting an inquiry into housing associations and I look forward to the report, as it will have great cross-party authority and will help this House and the other place get to grips with what the Bill means for the future.
The Chartered Institute of Housing, the independent professional experts, says that this fire sale of affordable council homes to fund the extension of the right to buy could mean the loss of 195,000 genuinely affordable social rented homes in the next five years. Although housing associations might well build more homes as they sell under right to buy, many will increasingly build for open market sale and rent. Indeed, one third already say that they will no longer build any affordable homes. For organisations with a social mission that have played a big part in providing publicly funded homes for decades, that is almost as shocking as one third of NHS hospitals saying that they are prepared only to take private patients. The Bill is a milestone moment for affordable housing in this country and it is a massive step backwards.
Let me turn to starter homes. We welcome the Government’s stated aim of making home ownership more accessible to people on ordinary incomes and to young people in particular. The drop in home ownership over the past five years to its lowest level for a generation means that this is an essential element of meeting the country’s housing needs and aspirations. But what is being done is not working, and these plans will do too little to help. We need fresh thinking, radical ideas and a much wider public debate for the future, which is why I have commissioned Peter Redfern, the chief executive of one of the country’s largest house builders, Taylor Wimpey, to undertake an independent review of the decline in home ownership, supported by an expert panel of major figures in housing and economics.
The Secretary of State must face the fact that the Government’s starter homes will simply not be affordable and will be a non-starter for families on ordinary incomes. Shelter calculates that across the country a person will need an income of £50,000 a year and a deposit of £40,000 to afford a starter home while in London they would need an income of £77,000 a year and a deposit of £98,000. That is simply out of reach for most of the middle-income working families who need help buying a home the most. Furthermore, there are no controls on the Bill to stop those who can afford to buy without help from the Government taking advantage of the scheme, so there is a big risk that the people who benefit most will be those who need the help least. As Shelter says of the starter homes programme:
“The only group it appears to help on a significant scale will be those already earning high salaries who should be able to afford on the open market without Government assistance.”
Let me say this:
“When this was first put forward prior to the election, it was clearly intended to be focused on using that land that had not already been designated for housing. The aim was for it to be a brownfield ‘exceptions’ policy...which would be a welcome addition to existing affordable and other new housing. In the policy as now proposed, starter homes are clearly to be instead of, not additional to, affordable homes to rent”.
Those are not my words but those of the previous permanent secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government, Bob Kerslake—Lord Kerslake. The Government’s own impact assessment confirms this:
“Starter Homes will not be additional to housing supply”—
the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts). So before this Bill goes through the House, the Government must, as a minimum, change it to do two things. First, they must make any starter homes built through developer obligations additional to affordable homes, not a substitute. Secondly, they must put in place a guarantee and a guard against any abuse or dead-weight in the scheme.
Let me touch on planning—parts 6 and 7 of the Bill. With Ministers in a political panic about falling so far short of the new build numbers that they have pledged, this Bill gives them wide-ranging powers to impose new house building and override local community concerns and local plans. With a total of 32 new housing and planning powers for the centre, this legislation signals the end of localism. We welcome the measures to speed up the planning process where there is a clear case for doing so and where local decision making is not ignored, but there are serious concerns about some aspects of this Bill that will be shared in all parts of the House. I say that to the Housing and Planning Minister, who is chuntering again, because he might want to address them when he winds up. Those concerns are heightened, first, by the fact that there has been no consultation on the most radical of these planning proposals; and, secondly, by the fact that so much is left as open-ended powers for the Secretary of State.
Clauses 3, 4, 97, 102 and 107 introduce very far-reaching changes. [Interruption.] Instead of laughing, I suggest that the hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp) look at those five clauses. These far-reaching changes must be clarified and justified by the Secretary of State, and they should be restricted as the Bill goes through Parliament if they cannot be justified. In order to do so, will the Secretary of State guarantee, as he should, that the draft regulations are available to the House when these clauses are debated in the Public Bill Committee?
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Brandon Lewis)
Will the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that what the Bill looks to do, and what it will deliver, is to move on from the atrocious legacy that he left as Housing Minister, when he had just 88,000 home-building starts, followed by 95,000 over the last two years of the Labour Government—the lowest level since the 1920s? That is the legacy he left us with.
John Healey
No wonder the Minister’s Back Benchers look so concerned, because this bluster—this promise of big housing numbers from which the Government are falling so far short—will not wash. He has his own track record. Never mind blaming Labour, never mind the previous Parliament: five years of failure on housing under Conservative Ministers is what he has to answer for. Moreover, he did not answer the important question for this House and for the public about the proper scrutiny of this Bill—that is, whether the draft regulations for these sweeping new planning powers will be available to the Public Bill Committee. He is nodding his head, but I am not sure whether that is a yes or a no. I will give way again if he would like to give us a yes or a no on the draft regulations.
Brandon Lewis
I am wondering whether the right hon. Gentleman is going to answer the question that I intervened on him to ask, which is whether he recognises that he left a legacy of just 88,000 starts—the lowest since the 1920s.
John Healey
Eight out of 10 of the genuinely affordable rented homes that the Minister claims credit for were started under Labour—commissioned under us and paid for with a commitment of investment under us.
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Brandon Lewis)
I apologise now to the many colleagues—48 of them—who have spoken today as I will not necessarily get time this evening to mention everything that was said. It was a real indication of the strength of feeling. I was particularly pleased to note how many Government Members spoke whereas Labour ran out of speakers, which is indicative of where we are. That shows our strength of feeling and backs up our desire and determination to deliver the homes our country needs, as we showed by putting home building and home ownership at the forefront of our manifesto, the Queen’s Speech and this Bill. We are building to take our country forward, picking up from the legacy left by Labour. Despite the claims made by the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) earlier, we must remember that when he was Minister for Housing there were just 88,000 housing starts. That was the base from which we had to rebuild.
I had high hopes when I started to read the reasoned amendment, as it started quite well. Unfortunately, it very quickly went downhill from there. I am delighted that the whole House has seen the right hon. Gentleman and other Members from all parties support our plans to tackle rogue landlords and letting agents. They say that negotiations should always start from the point at which the parties agree, so if the House grants the Bill a Second Reading tonight I look forward to warm and welcoming words for these measures in Committee and, I hope, some rather warmer words than those we heard today.
Members on both sides of the House have made strong speeches. My hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch and Upminster (Dame Angela Watkinson) outlined a strong argument, showing her passion about ensuring transparency in the lettings sector by finding information about landlords through council tax forms to protect tenants. My hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), the next Conservative Mayor of London, rightly outlined his plans to ensure that we continue to deliver more homes for London than previous Labour Mayors, building on the work done by my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) who, as Mayor, has delivered for London and exceeded the targets he has set himself.
I look forward to seeing the work that my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park will do over the next few weeks to ensure that we take things forward, working together. He has shown the difference between us and the Opposition, who have carped and moaned about the Bill without offering a single positive suggestion for what they would do for the housing market. My hon. Friends, exemplified by the next Conservative Mayor of London, have outlined a positive message for taking the housing market forward.
My neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon), showed his passion for, and knowledge of, delivering the homes we need and seeing a growth in the custom-build and self-build sector. He outlined the importance of delivering for customers, the residents who buy and live in these homes. My hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), the former Housing Minister, rightly outlined the importance of local authorities ensuring that they focus on their planning team. Those teams are vital to a local authority’s ability to deliver for the future and for local areas, ensuring that they are the heartbeat and economic regeneration driver of the council.
Kate Hoey
The Minister will know that I have the greatest concentration of fully mutual co-ops in my constituency, which is just across the river. Tonight, they all met at Coin Street, and they are very worried. Will the Minister assure me that fully mutual co-ops will be exempt from the right to buy, that he will work to ensure that they are exempt from the reduction in rent, which will destroy co-ops, and that they are exempt from pay to stay? That is really important, as people are really worried and we should ensure that mutual co-ops continue.
Brandon Lewis
Co-operative properties are among the categories for which housing associations can exercise their discretion not to sell their property to tenants. In the agreement, such tenants would potentially be able to use the new ability to have a portable discount that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State outlined earlier.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Chris Green) rightly talked about the importance of infrastructure in making sure that we are delivering to communities the infrastructure they need for the future. I appreciate and agree with the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) and others about the importance of achieving people’s aspirations through starter homes and of making sure that we have locally led system delivering with local plans.
My hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (James Berry) outlined the important work being done by the London Land Commission, which I co-chair with the Mayor of London, to make sure that we are delivering land across London. He rightly pointed out that it is important that we continue to deliver public land, right across the country, to reach and exceed the target of 150,000 homes from public sector land that the Prime Minister has rightly set for this Parliament.
We in this Government have a strong record in protecting those in the rental sector. We have made £6.7 million available to local authorities to identify and successfully prosecute rogue landlords and lettings agencies, and 40,000 properties have been inspected. It is nice to have the Opposition’s endorsement for the measures in the Bill to drive rogue landlords out of business. It is a shame, therefore, that the shadow Secretary of State’s reasons for opposing the Bill betray a fundamental misunderstanding of what the people of this country are crying out for—but that, I suspect, is why we got the result we did in the general election.
Brandon Lewis
No, I will not give way at the moment.
Eighty-six per cent. of people say that if they had a free choice they would choose to buy their own home. This Government were elected because the people of this country saw the evidence that we would give them that choice. This Bill underwrites that determination. The shadow Secretary of State says that it will not help people who struggle to own their home, but he is wrong. Let me remind the House of our record so far. Since the spring of 2010, over 230,000 people have been helped to buy a home using Government-backed schemes. I am sure that he will, at some stage, want to thank us for the fact that in his constituency housing starts are up by 57% since 2010. Help-to-buy schemes have already helped nearly 120,000 people to buy their own home. The help-to-buy equity loan has now been extended until 2020, helping a further 194,000 households. Forty-one thousand new shared ownership homes have been delivered. Now, because of this Bill, our ambition of 200,000 starter homes will become a reality.
This Bill will enshrine equality in the social housing sector. It will give the Government the ability to deliver on the side of aspirational, hard-working families. It will provide more people with opportunities to own their own home—that is more people with the financial security that a secure foundation of home ownership provides. I was pleased to hear many Labour Members outline their support in principle for people’s right to buy, and I hope they can convince their Front Benchers to take that forward.
Brandon Lewis
I am afraid not because we are so short of time.
The Bill will give this nation the fair housing market that it deserves. It builds on the 260,000 affordable homes built over the course of the past few years.
Hon. Members
Emma Reynolds
In the previous Parliament, one of the Minister’s predecessors promised a one-for-one replacement of the right-to-buy homes sold, and the Government did not achieve that. Why should anyone believe that they are going to achieve it with their current policies?
Brandon Lewis
In congratulating the hon. Lady and wishing her a happy birthday, I say to her that her gift from us is the fact that, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State outlined, local authorities are already doing better than the one-for-one extra homes being built, and are almost at two-for-one in London. I use the words about building homes very cautiously and seriously, because this is at the heart of everything we do. We understand the importance of a home to people and their desire to have their own home.
We believe in having decisions made locally. The planning system should be driven by local people, for local people. That is why we want to facilitate speeding up and making easier further neighbourhood planning. It is why we have invested £22.5 million in the neighbourhood planning support programme, with more than 1,600 plans going through the process at the moment.
This Bill will change the way we think about our homes and the homes of our families. No longer will people be left behind, believing that a home to own is a dream for another generation, no matter what the shadow Secretary of State may say. No longer will a social tenant look at their neighbour exercising the right to buy and think, “Why can’t I do that?” No longer will councils and house builders grapple with a planning system that is too slow and does not deliver for local communities.
This Government were elected on a strong mandate to make sure that the homes this nation deserves are built where communities want them and need them. This Bill is proof that we are a Government of opportunity, choice and prosperity—a Government empowering the “generation rent” of today to become the “generation buy” of tomorrow. I commend the Government’s Bill to the House.
Question put, That the amendment be made.