Speeches by Cocking.

“There was no engagement.”

“For the new town at Crews Hill and right next door at Chase Park, my local authority was not consulted even though we border it.”

“I am Lewis Cocking, the Member of Parliament for Broxbourne.”

“First, I just want to say that it is a sweeping statement to say that the housing targets across the country are fair and consistent. That is not a statement that I agree with. I wanted to ask about new towns. When you do a local plan, you have a duty to co-operate with your near neighbours. There is a new town in Enfi…”

“There are clearly some terrible landlords out there and there is an issue with enforcement. Kate, you have an example of Nottingham city council and Huntingdon council. Obviously they are very different. Nottingham probably has a budget of £300 million. Huntingdon is probably £15 million. They are rural and urban, with…”

“T8. In a new poll, FairFuelUK has found that three out of four road users who voted Labour want fuel duty to be kept frozen or reduced. Will the Chancellor listen to the people who put her into Government and ensure that that regressive tax, which hits low-income families and economic growth the hardest, is not increas…”

“I am Lewis Cocking, MP for Broxbourne.”

“I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) for securing this important debate. I understand more than most the issues with property service charges, because I am a leaseholder where I live in Hoddesdon. A quarter of my constituents live in flats or maisonettes, and 25% of property transactions in Br…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend, who makes an excellent point in standing up for his constituents. This is an important point. All MPs across the House have probably attended such meetings, and these companies are unable to answer the most basic questions. They are paid considerable amounts of money, and they cannot answer…”

“I fully support the right to buy, which was a good policy—[Interruption.] I am just stating that it was a good policy and I supported that. The hon. Lady makes an interesting point about communication, which must be there. As I have mentioned, Enfield council does not collect a sinking fund, which can go some way towar…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent and passionate speech. Does he agree that the Government should consider supporting new clause 14 and removing anonymity for young people who commit such serious crimes, because they are looking to reduce the voting age to 16? We should talk about when people in this country become…”

“What does the Minister say to parishes such as my own, Hertford Heath, that do not have any more funding to support the delivery of their neighbourhood plan? They are all run by volunteers, they do not have very many houses to collect a precept from and they do not have very many staff. What does she say about that env…”

“While Labour continues down the path of net zero, the UK now imports more than 40% of its total energy needs from overseas. Given that the UK is the second most expensive country in the world for household electricity, will the Minister issue new oil and gas licences so that we can get oil and gas out of the North sea …”

“The fundamental responsibility of any Government is to keep their citizens safe, but—from the mistaken release of a dangerous foreign sex offender to scrapping future prison sentences for over half of offenders—which side is Labour on? Is it on the side of the hard-working, law-abiding British public, or the criminals …”

“When I go out to speak to people in Broxbourne, they are completely against this—they do not want it. They fear a large council. I have spoken to many councillors, and my reflection is that things depend on the size of the unitary. For those serving in a smaller unitary, people tend to be happier with the council and t…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I agree with much of what has been said already. This clause goes to the very heart of the Bill and highlights why it is bad. I led Broxbourne council, a district council, and was a county councillor on an authority that represented 1.2 million people, s…”

“I have served in the two-tier system and know it is not perfect, but nor is what the Government are proposing in the Bill. There are some unitary councils, such as Slough, that face really difficult financial challenges. Just having all the levers of two councils around the same table does not make for better service d…”

“Not as many under this proposal. The Government do not have a mandate for this. They said lots of things in their manifesto about what they would and would not do, but they have done lots of things that were not in their manifesto, which is really damaging for democracy. The Government should be asking local people wha…”

“I could not agree more. I think that is true, and it is an important reason why the Government are focusing on certain parts of the country and not others. If it were true that all councils have to be of a similar size to get the best services and save the most money, and the evidence supported that claim, then surely …”

“No, I have not. My authorities have lost out and are no better off under the Government proposals. In particular, rural authorities lose out even more. I have already touched on the fact that millions of people across this country will pay more in council tax. We are also always told that we have to hit the figure of 5…”