Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Bradley Thomas Excerpts
Thursday 26th June 2025

(1 day, 14 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lucy Powell Portrait Lucy Powell
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I am sorry to hear of Rob Howard’s ill health. My hon. Friend raises a much broader and more important point about the Reform party in local government. Reform is committed to reducing the head- count in local government, and its councillors clearly got the memo and are acting on it; they are resigning in droves.

Bradley Thomas Portrait Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)
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The constituency of Bromsgrove and the villages is 89% green belt. Under this Labour Government, our housing target has gone up by 85%, yet nearby Birmingham has had its housing target reduced by 20%, despite there being at least 140 hectares of brownfield land in the south of the city alone. Surely the Leader of the House agrees that that does not make sense. If it does make sense to her, could she explain it to my constituents?

Lucy Powell Portrait Lucy Powell
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We make no apology for having the most ambitious house building programme in a generation. That programme is locally led; it is about local plans that bring together a strategic view of what land is available and its best use. Those decisions should be taken locally.