"Because of the shameful under-investment in social housing by the previous Government, there are simply not enough properties for people to downsize to. What assessment has my hon. Friend made of the number of families who will end up moving to smaller, more expensive accommodation and end up receiving more …..." John Leech - View Speech
"Will the hon. Lady explain whether she tabled amendment 7 because RPI is normally higher than CPI, or because she believes that it is a better way of working out inflation?..." John Leech - View Speech
"I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way so quickly. A number of people who have been assessed reasonably recently had their incapacity benefits stopped but then reintroduced on appeal are now being reassessed and found fit for work once again. Surely people who have recently been assessed …..." John Leech - View Speech
"May I urge the Secretary of State to resist any calls for a reduction in the licence fee? The BBC has already faced significant cuts to valued services, such as local radio, as a result of the budget constraints. Surely this is just yet another attack on the BBC by …..." John Leech - View Speech
"Does the hon. Lady agree that people might have more confidence in the Government’s decision to move to CPI if we were to use CPI for all other calculations, such as train fare increases?..." John Leech - View Speech
"Does the Minister not accept that in many areas there is no alternative social rented accommodation to move to, and that people will be expected to move from social rented housing to smaller, private rented accommodation, which will end up being more expensive and, therefore, increase the housing benefit bill, …..." John Leech - View Speech
"T8. The overall cap on benefit will result in some larger families living in expensive rented accommodation through no fault of their own being expected to live on £100 a week. May I suggest to the Secretary of State that the solution to that problem is to have two completely …..." John Leech - View Speech
"May I offer an alternative solution for keeping rents low? How about building more council houses and housing association houses, and getting the construction markets on the go as well?..." John Leech - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), who made some very measured comments.
I am delighted to be able to contribute to the debate, and to welcome a number of measures that will be good for Manchester and good for the people of …..." John Leech - View Speech
"I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the future of the benefits system.
I think that the whole House would agree that the way in which a Government treat the most vulnerable will always be a good measure of whether they can claim …..." John Leech - View Speech