Speeches by Reed.

“Unfortunately, by convention, I cannot share with you the conversations that I am having with the Treasury.”

“It is not really. We are playing catch-up, because of what was left behind by the previous Government. There is a housing crisis, because there are not enough homes of every tenure. The previous Government had 14 years to fix that. They scrapped housebuilding targets and failed to fund the building of social and afford…”

“To get more units built, because 30% of nothing is nothing.”

“The previous Government could have taken these steps three years ago and we would not be in this situation today.”

“He asked me a question.”

“That is what we are intending to get to. You are involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny in this Committee on the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill that we will be publishing before the end of the year. The intention is to end new forms of leasehold within this Parliament.”

“It is our intention to do it. Of course, things can happen that get in the way of that. We would seek to overcome any of those obstacles, but it remains our objective to achieve that.”

“We are consulting on wider reforms to address the concerns that residents living on fleecehold estates are experiencing, including unfair costs or infrastructure that should be in place but is not. That includes looking at legislative options to help overcome the challenges as we find them. That is currently subject to…”

“It certainly does not sound fair in the way that you have just described it there. If it is okay, I can write back to you on that. I do not have the answer with me right now, but it does not sound right to me.”

“I am very pleased that he is doing that. I think it is happening next week. I have spoken about this with him, because I have a constituency case that involves FirstPort as well, so I have seen, in my own patch, exactly what is going on. I am sure that Minister Pennycook will be extremely robust with FirstPort about pr…”

“The same week that the Act, as it is now, got Royal Assent, I met with representatives from landlords and renters to discuss the next steps, and we committed then to publishing as soon as possible a roadmap towards implementation. I hope that that will be within days now. That will give everyone greater clarity about t…”

“It is fair to say that we do not expect any significant fall-off. When I have taken part in radio phone-ins, I have had people say that it is going to lead to a reduction in supply, but I have spoken to developers that are looking to develop more high-quality property available for private rent. In the end, it is not g…”

“We will wait for the evidence, but there is no reason to assume that it is going to be a problem.”

“Again, that will be in the roadmap when it comes out. It is worth saying that the landlords’ representative organisations were very positive about the Act. The vast majority of landlords are decent businesspeople offering a good service to people who want to buy that service at an affordable price. We know that the pri…”

“That will be subject to the roadmap as well.”

“Private tenants?”

“When will we extend Awaab’s law from social to private rented? It is our intention to do that. We will do it as quickly as we can, but we are currently having to consult with all parties to make sure that everyone can understand what the requirements will be and can meet them before they are brought into force.”

“Social and community cohesion are issues that have really come up the political agenda. A lot of people will describe to you that they feel that, over recent years, the country has started pulling apart. There are no hard measures for that, but we know that it is a growing feeling because people will be saying that to …”

“We are working towards that. We are not doing enough yet. That is the truth of it. One of the good things about Pride in Place is that it is a board of local people who will decide where it is spent, whether on improving public services and public infrastructure, or securing a building that they may need for some purpo…”

“There is more like that that we can do outside Price in Place. As part of our work towards devolution and community empowerment, there is a strong strand of localism, for which local government has been pushing for years but to which Government have not responded. Where we make services directly responsive to the peopl…”