Speeches by Eshalomi.

“My hon. Friend is making a fantastic speech. I have long supported reducing the voting age to 16—a change for which there is cross-party support. Does he agree that if we give young people a say by giving them the vote, they will not have some of those views, because they will feel engaged and involved in the political…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his powerful opening speech. Turnout at the general election in July last year dropped to below 60%, which means that two in every five people did not participate. Does my hon. Friend agree that that shows we need change, so that more people engage in our democratic system?”

“I echo the praise for the Foreign Secretary’s visit last week. It is important that we continue to keep the spotlight on Sudan. Last week, I was able to visit an exhibition called “Children’s drawings”, arranged by Waging Peace and hosted by my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell). It showed…”

“I thank the Minister for coming to the House with this statement. I am sure that Members across the House are watching to ensure that this agreement lasts, and that people can return to their home and build some sort of future. Tomorrow I am due to meet the Kennington Bethlehem Link, a voluntary group in my constituenc…”

“I thank the Home Secretary for her statement this afternoon. As many Members have said, our thoughts remain with Bebe, Elsie and Alice. We can all remember where we were that late mid-morning on 29 July. I had just dropped off my two children at their holiday camp at school. When the news broke, I could feel that panic…”

“At a time when we are seeing such an increase in religious hate crime, including Islamophobia and antisemitism, we all have a duty in this House to be careful about the language we use. I hope that the Government will look at their language, because it is vital for community cohesion that we are careful and do not unin…”

“I thank the shadow Minister for securing this important question; he has highlighted some key issues. Sadly, we know that our councils are at breaking point. The Select Committee’s first major inquiry is to look at local government finances, and we look forward to engaging with the Minister on it. It was reported that …”

“I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour for making such a powerful speech and reading out what must have been a difficult email to receive on behalf of her constituent. Does she agree that, sadly, many other tenants up and down the country might have had to go through that, and suffered in silence because they were grievi…”

“As a fellow London MP, the right hon. Member will see what I see in my inbox, with many tenants facing that threat on an almost daily basis. They are the same tenants who come to our advice surgeries and are turned away from overstretched council departments, and who cannot apply to social housing waiting lists because…”

“I start by paying tribute to Members from across the House who have tabled an amendment at this stage, and to the Minister, who has engaged constructively with Members between Second Reading and Report. As we debate this Bill today, it is important to remember why it is so badly needed: the dire situation that many ten…”

“I know that the shadow Minister cares passionately about this area, especially in the light of his local government experience. Given that financial pressures on local authorities are added to by the need to provide temporary accommodation to families facing eviction, does he agree that we should have abolished section…”

“I thank the Minister for the work he has been doing. He highlighted the issue of tenants being asked to pay up front. In my constituency and many other London constituencies, that up-front cost amounts in some cases to a deposit to purchase a home. Does he agree that we need to look into that issue and into estate agen…”

“I welcome the Minister’s response, and ask that the Government continue to keep the House regularly updated. As the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) said, the House should not forget this issue. In December, I met Islamic Relief, which is based in my constituency, and it gave me an update on some of…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement this afternoon. I know that he takes this subject really seriously. He was in my constituency just before Christmas, although it is a shame that he did not go into the PET scanner. I welcome the improvements in terms of education. For the many parents who, like me, have to b…”

“Yes, but Prime Minister, do you understand that the additional funding to address homelessness is effectively redundant if you are not dealing with the root causes of people being forced into temporary accommodation, which include the freezing of the LHA?”

“Again, we commend and welcome that, but do you think it is right, then, that the Government have not set targets for how many homes they will deliver a year? They have not set out what tenure those homes will be, but yet you are asking local councils to report back on their targets. Another thing that is coming up, whi…”

“Essentially, the additional funding that councils have received is going to be absorbed because rents are going up higher, and that is forcing families up and down the country into temporary accommodation for much longer. We should not be calling it temporary accommodation, Prime Minister—people are there for 14 or 15 …”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. We are in a housing crisis, so I would be grateful if you could explain to the Committee why you took the decision to freeze the local housing allowance rate this year.”

“You talked about homes. In less than a week, most of us in this room will be able to spend Christmas with our loved ones in a warm, safe home, yet 160,000 children will wake up on Christmas day in temporary accommodation. A feature on the BBC “News at Ten” last night showed the reality of people paying thousands of pou…”

“We are very grateful for and welcome the Government’s ambition on new homes, but the figures—you quoted the 1.5 million—have to be deliverable. You may be aware that new dwellings dropped this year, and the number of planning permissions granted fell by 15%. Earlier you talked about planning reform, regulation and addi…”