Speeches by Reed.

“I have read the same reports in the newspapers that you will have read. The truth is that we have not put any pitches in yet for what would be in a future King’s Speech. No decisions have been taken.”

“SEND is an issue that I have been discussing directly with the Secretary of State for Education and her officials, and I know that officials in the Department have been doing exactly the same. The costs of SEND have ballooned over the 10 or so years that SEND has existed. There were around 200,000 children on an EHCP.”

“That is right.”

“I have huge confidence in Andy. I want to give him his time to deal with the issues on the ground. I asked him directly, “Is the problem the legislation and the regulation around building safety?” and he said to me, “No, the issues are much more cultural. They are to do with the Building Safety Regulator and the way th…”

“I am from Hertfordshire originally, so I know a bit more about it than you might think. The intention is that there would be dual running for a period, with a shadow authority for parts of the time.”

“You can already be on the electoral register but be anonymised on it, so that would always remain the case.”

“That is right, and across the whole of the country. We are looking at models up and down the country where we can give regions, as well as localities, more control over their own destiny. We cannot address the deep inequalities that, in my opinion, have been pulling this country apart for too long, if we do not open up…”

“I do not know whether Sarah knows why that has been delayed, but the Government are fully committed, as am I, to devolution, for all the reasons that I will not go through again. Decisions are better if they are taken closer to the people they affect. One reason why this country is one of the most unequal in the develo…”

“Yes, you have zoomed in on one of the biggest problems that we have had so far. Since coming into post I have spoken with developers and the GLA. We have been consulting widely on the London stimulus package. The performance of the BSR is raised by all of them as a major problem. My predecessor appointed Andy Rowe as t…”

“Labour in London needs to live in London and housing costs are higher. Wages, therefore, are higher in London. Costs are higher in London. In recognition of the effect that you are pointing to—it has slowed down more in London than it has elsewhere—I announced with Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, a housing package int…”

“I would need to have a look at that. If the Committee or you, Chair, would like to write to me with your concerns, I can make sure that I properly address them.”

“That last point will be one for the Education Secretary. My own view is that we should be educating young people about civic participation, including the importance of voting. It is an important reform to extend voting to 16 and 17-year-olds, and I am looking forward to young people being able to have their say in nati…”

“I think they have, actually.”

“The elections that are supposed to be going ahead will be going ahead. The planned elections will be going ahead.”

“Yes, but the elections that are intended to go ahead will be going ahead.”

“Costs and prices are higher in London.”

“No, not yet.”

“It is in all the areas. Where the elections are intended to go ahead, they will go ahead.”

“Elections are going ahead. In all the areas where they were told, they will be going ahead.”

“When I was a council leader, I used to look at the satisfaction rating. You get any number of performance measures telling you how well or badly this service or that service is doing. I always used to put the greatest weight on the satisfaction statistic, because that told me whether people thought that things were goi…”