Housing

Part of Opposition Day — [1st allotted day] – in the House of Commons at 1:47 pm on 10 June 2015.

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Photo of Emma Reynolds Emma Reynolds Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 1:47, 10 June 2015

I will give way in a minute, but I must make a little progress, because I know that many of my hon. Friends want to make speeches today.

I noted measures in the Gracious Speech relating to development on brownfield land and the right to build, but what is proposed is hardly equal to the scale of the challenge that we face. Where are the measures that will increase competition in the house building industry? Where are the measures that will help small builders? Where are the measures that will provide a new generation of garden cities? Such measures would not only tackle the housing crisis, but help our economy to grow. The house building industry already makes a huge contribution to our economy, but building another 100,000 homes a year would create 230,000 jobs and thousands of apprenticeships.

We must not forget the impact of the housing shortage on business. The CBI and many other business organisations have expressed concern about the lack of affordable homes for their employees. They fear that a failure to build such homes will restrict—and is already restricting—labour mobility and our economic competitiveness. Again, we see a disappointing lack of focus on the Government’s part