Orders of the Day — Housing

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 8 November 1971.

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Photo of Mr Peter Thomas Mr Peter Thomas , Hendon South 12:00, 8 November 1971

I do not have time to give way.

I give the figures for local authority house building in Wales. I suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that it ill becomes members of the Opposition to try to blame the Government for the fall in public sector building. The rot in public sector performance set in with the abandonment of the 500,000 target and the cutback in the public sector programme as part of the Labour Government's post- devaluation measures.

Local authorities, in spite of the 1967 subsidies, began to reduce their programme and that was fairly genera!, not the work of only Conservative local authorities, as the right hon. Gentleman appeared to claim. The pattern in Wales, where not many Conservative local authorities are to be found, makes that perfectly clear.