Business of the House

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I was very sorry to hear of the loss of life in Milton Keynes over the weekend. There will be housing legislation, which may provide an opportunity to revisit the issue. In the meantime, as a former Housing Minister, I would say that we do not want to do anything that makes life in HMOs more dangerous.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

I, too, listened this morning to the BBC’s announcement of the findings of its study carried out by Experian, on my digital radio. I was extremely concerned about the impact of those findings and should like to add weight to the request for the Leader of the House to make time for an extremely important and urgent debate on the issue, because the study showed clearly that the Government’s programme of cuts will have a disparate impact on regions such as my own, the north-east.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Lady’s strong feelings about her constituency. The best response I can give is that there will be a statement on 20 October on the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, and I imagine that there will be a debate on it. That will provide the right opportunity for her to share her concerns with the House and for the Government to respond to them, when we have the facts before us on exactly which programmes are being maintained and which are being reduced.