Budget Resolutions

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Angela Rayner]

Our plans are about making sure that mayors work with local authorities. In fact, in my area in Greater Manchester, we have seen the combined authority have really good pulling power, with our economy doing better than other areas, so we want to see that across the whole nation.

That is why the Cabinet statement on rewiring the state committed to the financial sustainability of local authorities, and this Budget is the next step towards that. The upcoming local government finance policy statement will set out our next steps alongside the rewiring the state delivery plan. Good growth is growth that we can see and feel. We need to draw a line under a decade of drift during which the public realm was seen as sideshow to politics—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) should know about sideshows.

Our high streets are where we catch up with friends for a coffee, and those businesses provide solid jobs at the heart of our communities. Those small moments of joy give us real hope, and that is why our strategy is giving hope back to the high streets. New powers, new funding and changes to the business rates system will provide much-needed relief for thousands of cafés, pubs and high street shops. We are freezing all retail, hospitality and leisure bills in real terms to protect them from above inflation increases for the next two years, and we are lifting the small business rate relief threshold for qualifying properties.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

My constituents will strongly welcome the decision to extend small business rate relief to many more businesses in the Crewe and Nantwich constituency, but they will also welcome the decision to remove small business rate relief from adult gaming centres and vape shops. Will my right hon. Friend join me in saying that this is an important step to incentivise the kind of businesses we want to see and disincentivise those we do not?

[Angela Rayner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are removing business rate relief for vape shops and adult gaming centres, and giving local authorities stronger tools to tackle business rates avoidance. At the Budget, we announced an extra 20% business rate cut for pubs and all but the largest live music venues. We will also introducing a general anti-avoidance rule for business rates at the earliest opportunity, and expanding what legal costs local authorities can claim when they are unsuccessful.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bowie]

The hon. Member is absolutely right, but, as usual, the Labour party gives no regard to those with aspiration or who want to succeed and get on. All it cares about is handouts and subsidies for “Benefits Street”. The Conservatives are the party that will support those who are working hard to do the right thing and move forward.

[Connor Naismith]

The hon. Member talked about the Opposition’s clean power plan, and how marvellous it is, but if those ideas are so good, why did the Conservatives not implement them when they had 14 years in government to do so?

[Andrew Bowie]

It is the cheap power plan, not the clean power plan, but I do not want to be too much of a stickler for detail. It may have escaped the hon. Gentleman’s notice that we are under new management now in the Conservative party, and I look forward to implementing our plan when we win the election.

There was also the surprise announcement of the removal of standing charges on gas bills—well, only surprising for the SNP group leader, the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan), who did not know whether he still supported the move that he called for in 2024. On the face of it the measure may appear to lower bills, but as ever, the devil is in the detail. If someone is a higher consumer—someone who uses gas for heating, cooking or hot water—then their energy bill is going to go up. Across Britain, temperatures are beginning to drop as we head into winter, and in large parts of this country—in the north of England and Scotland—it has just got more expensive to turn the heating on, thanks to Labour.

Some 80% of households in Britain rely on gas to keep them warm, which is why the delay before making a decision on Jackdaw was so maddening. When the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero approved the decision, through gritted teeth, it was rightly justified on the basis of energy security. Getting gas out of the Jackdaw field is what is best for Britain, because every bit of gas from that field will go directly into the British gas network.

However, the devil is in the detail. As I have said, we were all very surprised to see that revenue from Rosebank is still being accounted for in the OBR’s projections for revenue. Considering that the Secretary of State has suggested to the press that she is not minded to approve Rosebank, despite it being a quasi-judicial decision, does that mean that the forecasts are possibly misleading or wrong—or is the Chancellor about to get his way again, and Rosebank is about to get the go-ahead? We need to have that cleared up. We need to understand.

The theme of today’s debate is growth in every postcode and breathing space. This Budget, however, did nothing for growth and gave no breathing space, save for a couple of gasps of cold air from those who will be too scared to turn on their heating this Christmas. It could have done, though. We could have seen a bold Budget: a Budget that said, without equivocation, that we support our North sea oil and gas industry; a Budget that got Britain drilling by removing the energy profits levy today, not in three years; a Budget that reduced the cost of energy by slashing the levies, charges and taxes that still make up too much of an individual’s or business’s energy bill; and a Budget that reindustrialised our country by incentivising investment and growth, not one that doubles down on net zero and linking the emissions trading scheme with Europe. That is the Budget we needed to see. It is the Budget the Conservatives would have presented, and it is the Budget we will present when we win the next general election.

High Street Regeneration and Unlawful Storefronts

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

As many hon. Members have said, high streets speak to something fundamental about our identity and self-confidence in the places we call home. However, in too many towns up and down our country, they are now filled with betting shops, charity shops, vape shops or, in many cases, empty shop windows, devoid of life. The hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) spoke about design codes and shop frontages, which is a really important point that the Government should grip in recognising the civic importance of those spaces. If we allow the country to see that our standards have slipped, it is no wonder that standards slip elsewhere.

To create an environment where it is possible for the kinds of businesses that we want to see succeed once again, we must give them what they need most: a community of customers on their doorstep. That means embracing residential-led high street regeneration, which is why I am delighted to support Capital&Centric’s confidence in Crewe town centre with its proposed regeneration of the Royal Arcade, supported by 500 homes, plus bars, cafés, restaurants and other uses.

[Wendy Morton]

On the regeneration of our high streets and town centres, does the hon. Gentleman agree that there should be much more emphasis on bringing empty shops and empty homes back into use? It would help the high streets and the housing situation.

[Connor Naismith]

Yes, I absolutely agree.

We also need a tax system that incentivises the kinds of economic activity we want to see for the Pride in Place agenda. Too many of my small independent hospitality businesses have told me that it is not where we currently are. Kelly, from St Martha Greek taverna, is campaigning along with 50 local independent hospitality businesses, including the Red Cow and the GOAT sports bar in Nantwich, as well as Noodle Gurus in Crewe, alongside many others, to join our European counterparts in cutting VAT to 10% for hospitality businesses. I am proud to support their campaign.

We need a stronger state, capable and willing to intervene at local level to fix things when the market fails to do so. I am a huge supporter of the high street rental auctions and the Pride in Place agenda, but we must go further in giving local authorities the power, capacity, confidence and funding to put those powers to use so that my constituents can once again be truly proud of the civic spaces that we call our town centres. If we act decisively, we can restore pride in our high streets and ensure that they once again reflect the strength and character of our communities.

English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Consideration of Lords amendments
Tuesday 21st April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Beccy Cooper (Worthing West) (Lab)]

My area of Sussex is on the fast-track devolution programme. Although that brings challenges and inevitably means that we are still building parts of the plane while learning to fly, for my constituents and all Sussex residents, the devolution of power and resources has the potential to transform our area in health, education, housing, transport and sustainable economic development.

Given the short time available to me, I will concentrate my remarks on Lords amendment 80, which would strengthen the ability of licensing authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to issue cumulative impact assessments or gambling impact assessments. The amendment would give councils a clear, evidence-based tool to assess the cumulative impact of adult gaming centres and to identify areas in which further gambling premises would undermine local licensing objectives, including vulnerability and clustering.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Crewe in my constituency currently faces proposals for yet another adult gaming centre, which I have personally objected to. Does my hon. Friend agree that the strengthening of gambling impact assessments, as well as the wider proposals in the Pride in Place strategy, will allow areas like Crewe to actively shape our high streets and that it is incumbent on local authorities to proactively take up those powers?

Oral Answers to Questions

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Monday 24th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We are working with all areas to ensure that we are devolving power, whether to strategic authorities or mayors, to make sure that they can grip the economic opportunities and unlock the growth that we did not see under the last Government, but that this Government absolutely want to deliver.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Cheshire East council area has pockets of severe deprivation, centred largely around my constituency. Under the previous Government, local government funding allocations never really took account of those deprivations. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can rebalance funding towards the deprived areas in my constituency that have been left behind for too long?

[Alison McGovern]

I will happily meet my hon. Friend—great railway towns like Crewe ought to be invested in. He will have heard from previous answers today that the new measure of deprivation uses fine-grain data, so we can identify those pockets of deprivation, like in Crewe and Nantwich. I look forward to talking with him at length on this subject.

Supporting High Streets

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffith]

Again, that is an excellent point. It is something that the Chancellor, who is spreading uncertainty and consternation again this morning, should think about in relation to the conduct of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. While businesses absolutely understand that part of their role is to contribute to society—to the communities in which they exist—it seems that HMRC so often goes out of the way to make it hard for our businesses. This is an organisation that literally sought to turn its telephone lines off for six months of the year, until the previous Government refused to allow it to do so.

Hospitality venues, which we have talked about, are really suffering. They are at the apex of those affected by the changes to employment law, taxes and business rates.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Andrew Griffith]

I will make some progress. Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the Queen’s Head in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds), which brought home to me the challenges that that business is facing. Of course, all hon. Members in this Chamber represent constituencies, and traders on high streets in places like Arundel, Midhurst, Petworth, Pulborough, Storrington and Henfield have worked tirelessly throughout history to make our high streets and our communities what they are today, but—from the unacceptable time it has taken to fix the fire-damaged Angel Inn in Midhurst to the imposition of higher parking charges by Liberal Democrat councillors—government is too often a headwind, rather than a tailwind.

--- Later in debate ---

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

The subject of high streets is one that matters deeply in constituencies like Crewe and Nantwich, where the story of decline is slowly but surely being rewritten into one of renewal. For too long, our high streets were left behind. Fourteen years of Conservative government saw projects stall, shopfronts shuttered and absentee landlords allowed to hold back regeneration. In Crewe, the failed Royal Arcade redevelopment became the symbol of that neglect. Shops were demolished as part of a regeneration scheme, only for inflation, particularly construction inflation, to soar through the ceiling as a result of Liz Truss’s mini-Budget—[Interruption.] This meant that the project failed and in Crewe we have been left with a wasteland.

[Amanda Martin]

Every time we mention the name Liz Truss, we hear groans from the Conservatives Benches, but I am not sure that people in my constituency really want to hear those groans, given that their mortgages and rents have gone through the roof and that business are unable to borrow.

[Connor Naismith]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Conservative Members do not like it, but what I am articulating is the lived reality of my constituents and the impact of the Conservatives’ record on the economy while in government.

The failure to tackle the root causes of decline was compounded by economic mismanagement that drove up construction costs and by the devastating loss of HS2, but I am pleased to report that Crewe is turning a corner. We are seeing real investment, real ambition and real pride returning to our town centre, and that transformation is visible. It is being led by local leaders, our community and our entrepreneurs, backed by the economic stability that this Labour Government are delivering. The Crewe market hall, for example, has been reborn. It is now a thriving hub of food, drink and entertainment. The Lyceum theatre, a jewel in our town, is now joined by the Lyceum Square, a modern development that complements its historic charm. Together, they anchor a growing cultural quarter, and that quarter is expanding. The former Dorothy Perkins and Burton unit on Market Street, once another empty shell and blight on the high street, now hosts Crewe Creates—a vibrant space for arts and culture. This shows what can happen when creativity meets opportunity.

[Matt Rodda]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent point about the importance of arts and culture in town centres, and of restoring and reclaiming historic buildings to bring a sense of place, to help small traders to flourish, and to bring arts activities to the public and footfall into our town centres. I would commend the work done by Reading borough council to create a similar hub in Reading town centre. I really hope that my hon. Friend continues with his great work.

[Connor Naismith]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about restoring old buildings, and that is exactly what is taking place in Crewe.

Alongside this, a rolling programme of cultural events from Crewe town council and the Crewe business improvement district is helping to make our town an early contender for this Government’s first town of culture award.

[Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Connor Naismith]

I am going to make some progress.

Opportunity is exactly what the repurposing the high street grants delivered by our Labour council in Cheshire East has delivered. These are £30,000 grants for local entrepreneurs to renovate empty shop units, and they have empowered small and independent businesses to take risks, fill empty units and breathe new life into our town centre. They have transformed vacant spaces into thriving ventures, and I invite Ministers to come to Crewe to see the impact for themselves and to consider whether the scheme could be a blueprint for a national roll-out, because it works. The scheme, alongside the Southern Gateway project, is a great example of public investment connecting the dots, creating vibrant public spaces and opening up opportunities for a new community of businesses to emerge on our once-neglected high street.

Businesses such as the Arena, the Ice and Fire tattoo studio and ABC Childcare are leading the way, and the upcoming Youth Zone, opening in spring 2026, will give young people a space to thrive right in the heart of our town centre. Even the old M&S unit, long a symbol of stagnation, now has a positive future under new ownership. It is a powerful metaphor for Crewe itself: written off by some but now ready to rise. We have seen investments in places such as the Mirion Street boxing club, supporting grassroots sport and building community resilience. These are the building blocks of a high street that works for everyone.

This is what happens when local leadership, community, ambition and targeted investment come together, rather than when we talk our communities down, as we have heard too often from Conservative Members. So I say to investors: come to Crewe. I say to artists and entrepreneurs: come to Crewe. I say to Government Ministers: come and see what happens when a town refuses to be left behind. As with our railway past, Crewe town centre is on the right track.

High Street Rental Auctions

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jo White (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) for securing this welcome debate. Our high streets were once the beating heart of our communities, but the years of decline have hit towns such as Worksop, Harworth and Retford in my constituency hard. The immense sadness and frustration that I feel as I walk through my towns is shared by many of my constituents. In my view, the death knell started with the shift to out-of-town shopping centres in the ’80s and ’90s, but since then, the ease and habit of online shopping has caused the closing down and boarding up of shops on a massive scale. The pandemic put that on steroids, and for many, the habit of using the town centres to shop in is now long forgotten.

The value of community and pride in where we live is recognised and valued by everyone, and the commitment to revitalising our town centres rides above the politics in this place and elsewhere. I therefore welcome the new powers for local authorities to require landlords to rent out persistently vacant commercial properties to new tenants, such as local businesses or community groups.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is right to point out that these powers exist to tackle persistently vacant shop units, but does she share my concern about the scandalous practices undertaken by some landlords, including in my constituency? Those landlords register empty shop units as occupied in an effort to avoid paying business rates, thereby placing them outside the scope of this policy, because in policy terms they are registered as occupied. That, in turn, leaves shop units that are vital to our civic pride to rack and ruin. Will she join me in asking the Minister to look at those practices with a view to tackling them?

[Jo White]

I thank my hon. Friend so much for his intervention. Like him, I can identify properties on my high streets that do exactly that—they have furniture and equipment inside, but never open their doors and are clearly empty—in order to avoid paying business rates. That definitely needs to be tackled, and I hope that the Minister has heard his concerns.

I welcome the fact that my local authority, Bassetlaw district council, has been proactive about this challenge and has applied to be an early adopter of the scheme. The town centres of Harworth, Worksop and Retford would all be beneficiaries of that proposal as defined designated areas for this intervention. The local authority is a trailblazer for the programme, but as with all new projects and proposals—this is similar to the issues that my hon. Friends raised regarding Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council and Mansfield district council—they hit up against issues that could be ironed out to make the roll-out easier and smoother for other towns that are biting at the bit to begin this process.

The past 14 years have left local authorities significantly cash-strapped, and the project needs to include funding to cover the cost of officer time to set up and administer this relatively complex scheme. That will inevitably put a strain on our existing resources, compromising the delivery of other projects, and may stop other councils coming forward.

The designation of areas is not necessarily straightforward. My local authority has had to manage constitutional matters to institute the designated areas, which has caused delays in getting the project under way. There is no funding for the essential survey costs that must be undertaken before going to auction. The guidance states that those costs can be passed on to the end occupier should there be a successful bidder, and that this should be made clear in the auction marketing materials. There is a risk, however, as passing on the costs is likely to dampen demand.

The application guidance states that refurbishment funding has been set between £40,000 and £79,000, based on the property footprint, but it is anticipated that it will be approximately £50,000 per property, which is insufficient for some properties and end users. In Worksop, for example, we have a shortage of food and drink establishments. The £40,000 to £79,000 can be used only for refurbishment, and not for a fit-out. The high cost of fitting out a catering venue will be a potential deterrent to business investment.

Although the council is exploring the use of UK shared prosperity funding to enable fit-out works to take place, those funds end in March 2026, so that is not a sustainable solution. The council remains very keen to be a flagbearer for this significant proposal, which has the potential to transform our town centres, but it is also keen to be part of the problem-solving process as the roll-out begins. Will the Minister meet me and my local authority to discuss these matters further?

Community Engagement Principles and Extremism Definition

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex Norris]

I share the hon. Lady’s intent. We know that, whether it is in publicly available online forums or on the dark web, there are people who will use all corners of the internet to promote their views and to promote hateful ideologies. As part of our counter-extremism sprint and the strategy that will follow from that, we are looking very carefully at this and at the tools that we need to tackle it.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

We will all be sadly familiar with the shocking and racist remarks made by the Conservative party donor Frank Hester last year. I do not intend to repeat them in this House, so that we do not have to relive them, but does the Minister agree that that kind of language encourages extremism and has no place in our politics?

[Alex Norris]

We all have to be careful, both as individuals and collectively within our parties, about the individuals with whom we choose to associate and from whom we choose to take money, so that we do not send messages that we would not want to send.

Oral Answers to Questions

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex Norris]

I know that local authorities from Northern Ireland to Cornwall are interested to know their allocations, information about which was made available to them in recent weeks, and that some have concerns about making spending commitments. The money is there and has been committed, but my officials are working—they have had conversations directly about Cornwall—to ensure that local authorities have the confidence to make those commitments, so that we do not see 90-day redundancy notices.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

7. What steps she is taking to support local authorities on using high street rental auctions to help regenerate town centres.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

I am very excited that high street rental auctions are capturing the imagination of local communities and colleagues in this place. A common view for all of us is that vacant shops are a blight and that high street rental auctions are a great tool with which to tackle them. We are working with some early adopters, but I encourage all local authorities to come forward and be active in this space. As of 15 January, we have made a £1.5 million fund available to support the delivery of those powers across the country.

[Connor Naismith]

Crewe town centre, in my constituency, is in desperate need of “new year, new me”. For too long, we simply have not had the tools at a local level to tackle the irresponsible, absent landlords presiding over empty shop units. For example, the old M&S unit is owned by an absent landlord who has left that crucial anchor unit in our town centre to go to rack and ruin. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can remove the obstacles to bringing that crucial unit back into use?

[Alex Norris]

I am sad to hear about Crewe’s experience, but I know it is shared up and down the country. Crewe has a proud record in the retail space and I believe it can have that again, but as my hon. Friend says, the right tools and powers must be assembled to make that happen. I would be very happy to meet him. He is slightly unkind, because he knows that Crewe town centre was the site of my biggest personal and professional embarrassment, some 17 years ago. Provided I am still allowed back in, I will very gladly meet my hon. Friend.

Planning Committees: Reform

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Monday 9th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

I thank the hon. Lady for her suggestion. Proposals in that area are not considered as part of this working paper, but she is more than welcome to submit her views in detail on that point.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Crewe FC, a fantastic community football club in my constituency, has plans for over £1 million of investment in grassroots football facilities, but that is at risk because of delays in the Cheshire East planning department. Does the Minister agree that the Government’s drive to reform planning should ensure speedier decision making, in order to deliver the crucial facilities that our communities need?

[Matthew Pennycook]

As I said in response to a previous question, part of the objective of the proposals set out in the working paper is to test whether they will facilitate the speedy delivery of homes and places that our communities need. My hon. Friend is right that speed is part of the challenge, but there is also a big challenge around the capacity and capability of local planning departments. We consulted on changes to application fees and localisation of such fees in the recent consultation on the NPPF. The Department has a dedicated planning capacity and capability programme that directs support at local authorities, but we hope the £46 million package of investment secured in the Budget will go some way to supporting local planning authorities with the help they need on capacity and capability. That is a hugely important part of the system, and we need to support those who want to do the right thing.

Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting)

Connor Naismith Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 22nd October 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Mr Amos]

Q Of what length?

Melanie Leech: Ideally, we would want a year—perhaps six months.

On the impact, to answer the Minister’s point, it is not that families cannot stay for as long as they want to. This is a high-quality product—I am talking particularly about the build-to-rent sector. The risk for build-to-rent providers is that people will treat build to rent more like an Airbnb-type product. That could transform what should be rental products for families to move into for the long term. That is what we want—we want people to stay somewhere to make it their home. But this proposal will inhibit the supply of those products to long-term tenants, because we are vulnerable to short-term tenancies flipping all the time. That is the concern. It is not that people cannot stay for long if they want to; it is that those products will be easier for people to treat more like a short let—an Airbnb-style product.

Timothy Douglas: We need build to rent, but let us not forget that in build to rent, on average, the rents are a lot higher, because people are paying for a concierge and the other services, so it is not the ultimate answer for all parts of the sector. We are not going to support everyone. I do not think that there should be a timeframe on the fixed term, but we can make use of grounds that landlords cannot use as levers, and you could put break clauses in as well.

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Q My question goes back to the decent homes standard, and the first part of the question is potentially more for Suzannah. What insights do you have into the impact of the application of the decent homes standard in the social rented sector and then, potentially, on everyone else? How do you see it translating across to the private sector, in terms of the impact on the standard of homes there?

Suzannah Young: We believe that everyone has the right to a warm, dry, safe, secure and affordable home, and social housing has a greater proportion of decent homes than housing of any other tenure. That could suggest that having a decent homes standard helps to bring up standards in housing. We also recognise that housing associations exist to fulfil a social purpose, and we are rightly held to a higher standard. We welcome the Government’s commitment to reviewing the decent homes standard. We are pleased to continue to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as this develops.

In terms of some feedback for the private rented sector, we agree that it is important to have a clear, modern and meaningful standard that reflects what residents would expect a decent home to be. It is also important that all landlords should have a clear understanding of the condition of all their homes. In the social sector, we are doing work to develop a more consistent approach in that area, as part of our response to “The Better Social Housing Review”. It would need to be something that private landlords were able to do as well to bring up standards.

Specifically—this has been mentioned in terms of the private sector—it is important to recognise that the housing association sector faces multiple and competing pressures, with budgets that are already stretched. We would like to see investment in existing homes at the same time as development of the desperately needed new and affordable homes in the Government’s long-term housing strategy. I suggest that similar attention would be needed for the private sector.

Timothy Douglas: May I pick up on that point? That argument was used in Scotland on the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022. I gave evidence on that legislation two or three times to the Committee up there. In the end, the argument was that the cap was lifted for the social rented sector because it needs to plan for its investment. That is the crux, and it goes back to my previous points—there is no parity here with the incentives, the business planning and the costs that private landlords are facing. We have to have that parity. If the legislation is extending across, the funding needs to be the same. We have to have parity in the investment, the caps and everything else—that needs to be the same. We need that review into all the taxes and costs impacting private landlords, because, quite frankly, we are not getting legislation from either Government Department—the Treasury or MHCLG—that understands the investor appetite for the private rented sector. This legislation is not helping.

[Rebecca Smith]

Q This is a question mostly for Timothy. At the beginning of your contribution, you mentioned the unintended consequences we see from the Bill, and you gave the example of landlords departing the market. I know there is often the argument that they are still providing a home somewhere else if those properties get purchased. I am interested in the statistics you might have—representing both estate agents and landlords—on the impact on the housing market in full. How many properties stay in the private rented sector? Do they move from one landlord to another, or is that ultimately a property that is then lost permanently from the private rented sector?

Timothy Douglas: It is difficult to say. We know anecdotally that if you are in an agent branch and a landlord wants to sell, the branch would try to push that property towards a bigger landlord who could perhaps take it on before it goes on to the open market. We know that that happens in order to retain property. Anecdotally, we know that, because of legislative uncertainty and costs of legislation, as well as the cost of living, which has also hit landlords with their costs, landlords have left the sector—I gave the example of the agent in the west midlands previously. However, it is difficult to ascertain hard data across the board. That could be another recommendation to the Government: to come back with an annual review to Parliament on the state of the private rented sector.

Suzannah Young: May I come in on that?

--- Later in debate ---

[Carla Denyer]

Q Yes—whether you think that the Bill goes far enough to prevent or manage unaffordable rent hikes.

Anny Cullum: Unfortunately, no. We as an organisation at the moment would never recommend that anyone go to the rent tribunal, because we have seen tenants go there and have more rent—a higher percentage—awarded than the landlord was asking for in the first place. We are pleased to see that you are going to get rid of that, but we would like to see rent rises capped at the lower of median wage growth over the last three years or inflation. From my experience, I know most tenants are not going to go to the tribunal. It is brilliant if they do, but a lot of people will accept the rise, or have to move out because they cannot afford it, or get into debt. This means that the people who do go to the tribunal will still be judged against market rents that are way more unaffordable than the one at which they went into their contract. Does that make sense? We are not going to bring rents down just by tinkering with the tribunal.

This is mainly about making sure that people can stay in their homes and it does not undermine the Government’s efforts to prevent no-fault evictions. This could easily be used as a no-fault eviction by the back door. You could just put the rent up to a level that you know your tenant cannot afford. We do not think comparing what is affordable with new prices is the best way, so we would advocate for that cap on how much rent could be increased by.

[Connor Naismith]

Q Helpfully, the question I wanted to ask has been answered, so I will just give you the opportunity to say anything that you have not been able to cover in other answers, but that you would like to see from the Bill.

Anny Cullum: As I said, the five areas that I wanted to cover were illegal evictions, landlord licensing, capping rent up front to one month, withholding rent for disrepair and making renting more affordable. We see even the cap on in-tenancy rent rises as not really about affordability, but mainly about preventing back-door economic evictions or section 21s. We feel that, while this Bill goes far on improving security for renters, it is not going to do enough to address one of the No. 1 problems our tenants and members are coming to us with every day, which is affordability. Rents are outstripping wages all the time. We would like to see the Government set up a commission to look into ways we can bring rents down and keep them affordable once and for all. That is something that we would like to see.

[Lola McEvoy]

Q Do you agree that the fact that renters can challenge rent hikes under this legislation will, as an action, militate against unreasonable rental increases by landlords? Do you agree that the fact that we are going further in this legislation to make sure that renters have more support and that they can challenge any unreasonable rent hikes in the courts will, in and of itself, have an impact on landlord behaviour?

Anny Cullum: It might have a small impact, but I think that the reality is that most landlords will expect most tenants not to make use of that scheme.