Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

I am more than happy to add my congratulations to those of my hon. Friend to Wandsworth council on ensuring that it is increasing the supply of affordable housing around Battersea power station, where we desperately need more. There is a fantastic development there, but on the Wandsworth side there were inadequate levels of social housing under the previous Conservative Administration.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Gareth Bacon (Orpington) (Con)]

At the outset of the Secretary of State’s answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Weald of Kent (Katie Lam), one could be forgiven for thinking that we had an entirely new Mayor of London. In fact, this year we celebrate, or perhaps more appropriately commiserate, a decade of Sadiq Khan’s tenure as London Mayor. In that decade, in the most prosperous city in Europe, Sadiq Khan has overseen not just stalling but consistently falling rates of private construction starts. Recent figures from Molior show that London began building just 3,248 new homes in the first nine months of 2025, leaving it on track to start building fewer than 5,000 in total in 2025.

Incredibly, the Government’s response has been to cut their floundering mayor’s housing targets by 11%, but skyrocket targets in outer London authorities, where the vast majority of greenbelt land is. That includes an increase of almost 400% compared with previously approved London planning targets in my local council area of Bromley. Will the Secretary of State please explain why people living in places such as Bromley and our local greenbelt must pay the price for Sadiq Khan’s decade of failure and uselessness?

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[Steve Reed]

My hon. Friend describes a situation in Blackpool that I am sure Members across the House will recognise from many other constituencies, with the desperate need for more social and affordable housing. He will be pleased to be reminded that the new social and affordable homes programme of £39 billion, which will deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in this country for a generation, opens for bids next month. I hope that his local authority will be keen to make applications to it.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

With a new year often come new year’s resolutions. Will the Secretary of State make a new year’s resolution to accept the truth that the Government will not meet their 1.5 million housing target, which he set out? Will he confirm that he still thinks his job is on the line if he does not achieve that? Huge focus has been placed on rural areas with no infrastructure, but cities—often Labour cities—have been left off the hook, so will he commit to changing the formula to make it fairer and, more importantly, more deliverable?

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[Matthew Pennycook]

In general terms, anyone considering extending their lease or acquiring their freehold should obviously consider seeking specialist advice from a solicitor or surveyor, but I will ensure that the right hon. Gentleman receives a prompt answer to his question as to whether any of the reforms we are taking forward will give some redress to his constituent.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Select Committee.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Minister for his answer. I know that he has been taking a lot of time to debate and look at the issue of leasehold, and he can see the cross-party concern on behalf of many constituents up and down the country on this big issue, as well as the support for tackling it. We on the Select Committee are ready to help him by making sure that the legislation is right, fit and proper. I just want to tease out a further answer from the Minister. Can he confirm for the House that he is still on track to ensure that we end the issue of leasehold and commonhold by the end of this Parliament?

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[Matthew Pennycook]

The hon. Gentleman has written to me about that issue and he has, if I may politely say, generated a huge number of questions on it. We have met about it on one occasion, I think, and I am more than happy to have another conversation with him to try to get to the root of his concerns.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[David Simmonds (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)]

Leaseholders, like renters and prospective homeowners, have been made big promises by this Government. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of botched local government reorganisation, cuts to the budgets of two thirds of England’s local authorities, delays to elections and the wholesale abolition of housing and planning authorities in England’s shires on the delivery of those promises? This is just another promise that the Government are not going to deliver, is it not?

[Matthew Pennycook]

Forgive me—I do not know whether the shadow Minister has come in on the wrong question—but I cannot see how local government reorganisation will, in any shape or form, influence in any way our ambitious leasehold and commonhold reform agenda.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)]

Fully 5 million leaseholders were plunged into the dark before Christmas and thousands report feeling angry and abandoned. Why, then, are the Government choosing to delay their ending of the feudal leasehold system? Will they go further and follow the calls from Lib Dems and others to regulate property agents and to cap extortionate service charges?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Do you all represent Banbury? I am trying to find out why they all think they are in Banbury. I thought it had only one MP.

[Sean Woodcock]

Nearly 11,000 homes in Cherwell district have been granted planning permission but remain unbuilt. This causes understandable frustration for local residents and the thousands of people in housing need. Will the Minister set out what action the Government are taking to improve build-out so that much-needed homes are built and delivered?

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

You are part of Banbury, are you?

[Calum Miller]

The hon. Member for Banbury (Sean Woodcock) referred to the wider Cherwell district council area.

[Mr Speaker]

How far away is that?

[Calum Miller]

Mine is the neighbouring constituency, and many of my residents are placed in social housing in Banbury town.

[Mr Speaker]

Okay, that will do as a link.

[Calum Miller]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I am grateful to my constituency neighbour for raising this important matter. I wonder whether the Minister can reassure my constituents, many of whom are struggling to find social housing and many of whom end up in Banbury, having come from my constituency. Will the social and affordable homes programme pay due attention to the challenges of providing social housing in rural settings, so that those who wish to remain within their communities are able to do so and do not put extra demands on towns such as Banbury?

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[Matthew Pennycook]

We will of course keep the implementation of the Act under continual review, but, as I have said, it allows tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases at the first-tier tribunal, which will make a judgment on whether the increases are fair and meet that market-rate definition. We have, however, made it clear that the Government do not support the introduction of rent controls, including rent stabilisation measures, for the reasons that we debated at some length during the passage of the Bill.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

We all know that rent inflation, like all inflation, is caused by over-demand and lack of supply, and we can agree on the need to address problems by building more houses and tackling immigration, but does the Minister agree that the more controls and regulations are imposed on landlords, particularly small landlords, the more they will get out of the rented sector altogether, causing less supply and rent inflation which will hit vulnerable people?

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[Perran Moon]

Meur ras, Mr Speaker. With your good grace, I would like to take this opportunity to thank members of the emergency services, who responded so courageously across Cornwall during and in the wake of one of the worst ever storms to hit the duchy. I also thank the 600,000 people of Cornwall, who heeded pre-storm advice and kept fatalities, mercifully, to a minimum. The loss of one life is too many, but it could have been far worse. Over 1,000 trees are down, and hundreds of thousands of people were plunged into darkness, with no power. I hope that Ministers will create the appropriate forum to discuss the lessons learned from Storm Goretti.

The Secretary of State has confirmed that, because of our unique status, Cornwall will be a single strategic authority for the purposes of devolution. The greatest threat facing the constituents of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle today is the lack of social and truly affordable homes, which is compounded by the 14,000 second homes and 25,000 Airbnbs, leading to an exodus of our young people and a chronic lack of key workers. Given these factors—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I gave a lot of leeway at the beginning of the question. I think the Minister will have got the message already.

[Matthew Pennycook]

I think the thrust of my hon. Friend’s question was about what arrangements can be put in place for Cornwall so that it can better deliver housing and regenerate areas that have been identified by the council. As he will know, strategic place partnerships are reserved for mayoral strategic authorities that bring together more than one council into a combined authority. That said, and not least as a result of hearing representations from my hon. Friends who represent Cornish constituencies, I encourage Homes England to deepen its partnership with Cornwall council and to explore a memorandum of understanding or similar partnership agreement to support its ambitious housing and regeneration plans.

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[Peter Prinsley]

I am concerned about the villages in my most beautiful constituency of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket; there, people tell me that they are increasingly concerned about the lack of affordable housing in rural communities. What steps is the Minister taking to increase the supply of affordable housing for local people in rural villages through reforms to the planning system, and how will those reforms support the rejuvenation and long-term sustainability of our villages?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Can I just remind everyone that this is topicals? You are meant to set an example, Peter—come on.

[Steve Reed]

Our planning changes will support affordable rural housing by giving rural authorities greater flexibility to require affordable housing on smaller sites. Our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme, which opens to bids next month, is available to rural authorities as well.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Sir James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

I am sure we all agree that we cannot have sustainable communities if we do not have sustainable high streets. Would the Secretary of State agree that a fourfold increase in business rates over this Parliament does not make high-street businesses sustainable?

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[Alison McGovern]

I am proud to say that this settlement reconnects council funding with deprivation, and I have already explained the detail of that to the House. We will ensure that all councils are heard during this consultation period, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend as one of my good friends and colleagues from our city region, which is of course the best one in the country, as you know, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Definitely, after Lancashire. I call Max Wilkinson to ask the final question.