Oral Answers to Questions

Sojan Joseph Excerpts

Wednesday 12th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is right: we have to get the houses that we need built in his constituency and elsewhere—something that the Conservative party failed to do. That is why we have introduced the infrastructure Bill, which I think he welcomes. That Bill will get Britain building, so that we can deliver on those 1.5 million new homes through our plan for change. On the issue he raises, he and my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) have been working together to try to resolve this issue, as I understand it, and I am happy to ensure that he gets a meeting with the relevant Minister, if that would help in taking it further.

[Sojan Joseph (Ashford) (Lab)]

Q7.   May I commend this Labour Government’s landmark reforms to get Britain building through our plan for change? I look forward to working with Ministers to ensure that developers deliver what they promise to local residents, so that those in new homes have access to roads, GP surgeries and dentists, and do not create an extra burden for hospitals such as the William Harvey hospital in my Ashford constituency. What is the Prime Minister’s message to the blockers who are standing in the way of our building the homes and vital infrastructure that our country needs?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a dedicated campaigner for his constituents. We know who has been standing in the way for the past 14 years: the Conservatives, and they have learned absolutely nothing. The Leader of the Opposition claims that she has never opposed growth or development, but that is not what she is telling her constituents. Only last month, she wrote in her newsletter that she will

“keep working with Conservative colleagues”

to block a vital energy infrastructure project in her own backyard. She is not alone; the shadow Foreign Secretary, the shadow Defence Secretary, the shadow Environment Secretary—they are all at it. What a bunch of blockers!