Speeches by Eshalomi.

“So are those families, Prime Minister— The Prime Minister—there is no desire in Government for this to take any longer than it needs to take to be done effectively and properly.”

“I want to gently point out to the Foreign Secretary that the reason so many of us are here is that we have been waiting a long time for this statement. With the situation unfolding, as many colleagues have said, our constituents continue to write to us. Last week, Save the Children held a photo exhibition in Parliament…”

“indicated assent.”

“I thank the Minister for the written statement and for her work behind the scenes. We should welcome the opportunity for more people to be enfranchised. We should be very clear that one person losing the right to vote at the ballot box is one person too many. It is really important that we look at the issues around vot…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is really important that Members of Parliament are accurate in our statements, and I just want some clarity. The hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) mentioned bags of postal votes, but you will be aware, Madam Deputy Speaker, that under the Elections Act 2022…”

“This afternoon, I visited Centrepoint, where I spoke to young people living in self-contained flats and met the staff who are working to support those young people. The Secretary of State will be aware that a coalition of 150 charities supporting young people are calling for a specific youth-focused section in the endi…”

“I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement. This will make a big difference for many families in my constituency. An issue of which the Secretary of State is aware is the SEND override and the problems that it is causing local authorities. Second only to temporary accommodation and adult social care, SEND is the key…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for this really ambitious and bold plan to make sure our NHS is fit for the future. He will be aware that Professor Ian Abbs, the chief executive of St Thomas’ hospital in my constituency, will step down later this year. I want to thank him for his dedication and compassion in leading St …”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her commitment to bring forward a stronger Bill, working with colleagues across the House. The reality is that any one of us in this House could become disabled—disability does not discriminate. It is important for us to recognise the network of informal care that keeps our social car…”

“I thank the Minister and the 15 Members from across the country who have taken part in the debate, which shows the value we place on our local authorities. For far too long, our local councils have not always got the recognition they deserve, but they are the first line of defence for all our constituents, and it is ri…”

“I thank the Backbench Business Committee for finding time for this important and urgent debate. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for some of the biggest areas that impact all of us every single day, and I welcome the ambitious drive of the Deputy Prime Minister and her Ministers …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that really important intervention. It is clear that so many people desperately want to get their foot on the housing ladder and are worried about the precarious nature of private renting, which is why we welcome the Government’s ambition to end no-fault evictions, but there is much more we c…”

“I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement. He said that the whole House will have in their thoughts the many civilians impacted by this fighting. I have in my thoughts the many protesters who took to the streets after the brutal and tragic killing of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. We saw protesters come forward a…”

“The right hon. Gentleman will remember that, in 2021, he and I worked cross-party on identifying inequalities within certain communities and on getting them to come forward for the covid vaccination. Does he agree that one question we parliamentarians need to ask ourselves is this: how is it right that some communities…”

“Do you think that the Government should release a target on how many social homes they want to build?”

“You mentioned the impact, and Steve touched on the proposals for PIP. If they had a choice, which bill would people on a low income, who face seeing their income squeezed further, choose to cut? If they stop paying their rent, it could lead to more people being evicted.”

“Thank you very much, Chair. Good morning, everyone. Ben, I wanted to come back on some of those points. The reality is that we are in a housing crisis. Everyone says this. We have a situation in which there are about 1.5 million people on social housing waiting lists across the country. We have 164,000 children who are…”

“Obviously, one of the issues is the availability of properties at the LHA rate and the fact that there are not as many of those properties. Another area is payments to help local authorities with homelessness prevention. Are you worried that the Government are now ringfencing the homelessness prevention grant? In effec…”

“Tuesday, if possible, and just to make sure that we get a response from the relevant Ministers as well.”

“You will be aware then that there have been calls from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for ring-fenced national funding. At the moment, it is fair to say there is not parity across the board; some areas do not receive that funding. My understanding is that the Domestic Abuse Commissioner has called for that pot to be r…”