Lilian Greenwood
Main Page: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Pickles
I have had a number of meetings, as recently as last week, with various wildlife groups to discuss how to build into development an understanding of the needs of wildlife. My hon. Friend makes a very reasonable point about the bird population, which, outside my day job, I enthusiastically follow.
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
Tenants in Nottingham who have been forced to downsize from a two-bed social home to a one-bed private sector home can expect to pay an extra £24.83 a week in rent. The Secretary of State’s bedroom tax is a costly mess; why does he not scrap it?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)
We do not scrap it because we need to save money right across government. One of the major problems of implementing this policy is the lack of house building—[Interruption.] I know that the hon. Lady is from the 2010 intake and that Labour Members of that intake like to think that 2010 is year zero, but during the 13 years when some of her colleagues were in power, not enough affordable housing was built. That is the problem.