Speeches by Lewin.

“Great, thank you. A final question from me. I have been diving a little bit into the numbers with the help of the Clerks. I just want to get my understanding right. We just talked about the £4.8 billion. The spending review also talks about £2.5 billion for low-interest loans for exclusively social housing providers. I…”

“Absolutely. Obviously, the commission is crucial to how we build communities for the 21st century. We had a great session with Michael. He had previously talked about the report being published in July, but we saw a letter that did not mention July. Is that still the planned timetable, and if not, how quickly will we s…”

“The new towns commission is an important piece of work. We had Sir Michael Lyons before us a few weeks ago. I am proud to represent the two best new towns in the country, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City—I have a colleague from Milton Keynes who might dispute that, but he is not here today.”

“Apologies—in his Devon constituency over the summer to develop some credible policies of his own? If he does not, he is not credible from the Dispatch Box.”

“The postcode in which a person is born still has a profound impact on the life they lead. That is no more true than in my constituency, where those born in Hatfield have a healthy life expectancy that is 11 years shorter than those born three miles down the road in Brookmans Park. Does my right hon. Friend agree that i…”

“I always listen attentively to the shadow Chancellor, in this place and in his many media rounds. Sadly, what is missing is a costed economic policy of his own. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the shadow Chancellor might be wise to spend some quality time in his beautiful Dorset constituency—”

“Morgan, thank you for your very powerful testimony both in describing the scale of the problem and the ways we could address it. Is this challenge universally distributed across the country, or is it particularly acute in our cities in the south of England, where we know we have a particular problem with house values? …”

“We have had a very welcome announcement of £39 billion for the Affordable Homes Programme over the next 10 years, but the point has been made that demand is most acute for social rent. Oliver, you said the OPSO needs reform. In your view, does that need to happen before it is the beneficiary of any future AHP money?”

“I am conscious of time, but I am keen to talk about Older Persons Shared Ownership in a little more detail. As someone who was once a young person, shared ownership was my route on to the housing ladder, and I personally had a good experience. I am also acutely aware of the challenges that exist and that the older pers…”

“Good morning, I am MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“As the newest member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, I want to start with my own thank you to my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), who has been such a welcoming Chair and who drives forward our business with passion and conviction. I will focus my …”

“When I visited my Ukrainian Saturday school in Welwyn Garden City, many of the parents impressed on me the importance of having the option for Ukrainian children to study a GCSE in the Ukrainian language. As it stands, somebody can study Russian, but not Ukrainian, and I have promised to take up the cause. I have writt…”

“One last thing—you regret distress caused but you have not said sorry. From my professional experience before being elected, if you are a company in the private sector and things have gone wrong, you are more likely to be heard in the future if you are brave enough to just say, “I am sorry”.”

“I am MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“Buying your first home in particular should be a moment of such great excitement for people. Often, they have waited and saved for 10 or 15 years—or even longer—to be able to do it. Beth, as you have already touched upon, we all hear so many stories of solicitors not providing that vital information to prospective home…”

“Beth, just to you quickly on regulation, are there other countries that do this well that we can take inspiration from?”

“Perhaps this is one for you, Halima. This is a really important debate about what people are aware of at the point at which they buy their home. But there are also far too many stories of people believing it is affordable then, but five years on, you have had a series of increases in prices that are significantly above…”

“Thank you for being here, Martin. I still feel new to this job, and as an MP, you have to be across local issues, national issues and international issues as best as you possibly can. You cannot be across everything, but some issues cut through, and FirstPort has cut through. I am afraid that I think it will be univers…”

“Sorry to cut across, Martin, but that is a qualified answer, and we have all watched these kinds of sessions before. I am just going to give you one more opportunity to just say that you are sorry for where we have got to, to recognise and then to have the conversation. I need to hand it over to a colleague, but this i…”

“Swallow Dell primary in Welwyn Garden City is a fantastic school. I have had the privilege of meeting the leadership team, who are ambitious for every single child. They have a state nursery as part of the school, but they are seeking to expand, and unfortunately their bid was rejected in the last round. I am passionat…”