Housing
Debate between Mark Prisk and Chris Williamson(12 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Chris Williamson
With all due respect to the Minister, I know it is his first day but it is his party that is in government, his party that is responsible for this housing crisis, his party that is presiding over a huge increase in homelessness and a significant rise in rough sleeping, and his party that is catastrophically failing in its duty to provide the houses that people need in this country.
What do the Government do in response to this huge and growing crisis and massive demand for housing? Rather than build the homes that people need, they tinker with measures that deny housing benefit to people under 25, inflict a crude housing benefit cap and impose a bedroom tax on people deemed to be under-occupying their homes, forcing people up to the age of 35 to live in a single room if they happen to be on a low income.
The human cost of the calamity with which we are faced as a consequence of the failure of the Government’s economic and housing policies is tragic and shameful. More people are homeless as a direct consequence of their policies, and more people are having to sleep on the street—as I mentioned, rough sleeping is increasing. This is completely unacceptable in the 21st century in one of the richest nations on the planet. I just hope that the new Housing Minister is not blinded by the failed ideology that resulted in the abject failure of his predecessor.
The country is crying out for, and demands, real action now, not more meaningless initiatives. We need a clear plan, because plan A has totally failed. The new Minister said that he was committed to increasing housing supply. I hope that he can deliver on that. We need a new tax on bankers’ bonuses to build tens of thousands of new homes, and we need a cut in VAT on home improvements to help people undertake that work and generate more jobs. These are the sorts of measures contained in our motion and that would give a boost to the construction industry. I therefore commend the motion to the House.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Mark Prisk and Chris Williamson
Mr Prisk
As you can see, Mr Speaker, we are able to work closely together as a team and assume all sorts of identities.
The key thing to bear in mind is that when we look at the number of small business start-ups this year and last, we see an increase of 51,000. According to leading independent surveys, there were 470,000. That is a good sign that we are making early progress, but there is much more to do.
Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)
Is the Secretary of State aware that the British train building industry hangs in the balance following the decision to appoint Siemens as the preferred bidder for the Thameslink contract? Unless it is reversed, it will cost the Exchequer more than £100 million in lost tax revenue. Derby does not need a task force—we need a reversal of the decision. Will he give a commitment to make representations to the Transport Secretary and the Prime Minister to call in the decision, to protect thousands of jobs and stand up for British industry?
Mr Prisk
I understand the hon. Gentleman’s passion, but I think that the taskforce is important. If we start to unpick the contract now—in the third year of its running—we will face legal reviews and problems with how the project progresses. We need to deal with the procurement system as a whole. I am sorry to say that his Front-Bench team failed to do that in 13 years.