Michael Gove: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that and I had the great privilege of visiting Bath recently to look at a housing development. Just as some Labour councils are good, I believe there are one or two Liberal Democrat councils that are good, although I certainly shall not be naming them at this Dispatch Box now. More broadly, we are taking steps to deal with the audit situation she mentions...
Michael Gove: We will do everything we can. I congratulate Bath and North East Somerset Council on wanting to build more social homes. It must be a first that a Liberal Democrat council is in favour of homes for its residents—normally, they oppose such developments. I am glad to hear it.
Michael Gove: ...I can offer is that we will be out of the customs union and out of the single market, and that as a result we will be able to take our place as an independent free trading nation. Businesses in Bath and elsewhere know what it is that they need to do. That is certainty. It is very different from the proposition that the Liberal Democrats put forward at the last general election, which was a...
Michael Gove: ...other groups that are interested in enriching the cultural life of the nation has also been wonderful. I am looking forward to the launch of the report, and I know that the right hon. Member for Bath (Mr Foster) has played a significant part behind the scenes in making it so good.
Michael Gove: I am fortunate enough to have had a number of discussions with my hon. Friend the Member for Bath, and one of the points that he has made to me is that although many people working in the network and the infrastructure are doing a fantastic job, which I happily acknowledge-I am glad to have the opportunity this debate affords me to stress that-it is also the case that the quality of delivery...
Michael Gove: ...progressive and imaginative figures in local government are Liberal Democrat councillors. In particular, I would like to pay tribute to Gerald Vernon-Jackson in Portsmouth and to David Bellotti in Bath and North East Somerset, among many others. I will visit Stockport and have a word with the Liberal Democrat councillors there, and I am sure that I will leave better informed and happier...
Michael Gove: ...am grateful to my hon. Friend for his point. I know that he, as someone who used to lead for the Liberal Democrats on education, is particularly concerned about the impact of changes on his area of Bath and North East Somerset. We have had fruitful conversations about the position in that local authority, and I hope that we will continue to have such constructive conversations.
Michael Gove: ...of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 475W, on the Valuation Office Agency, whether a room with a lavatory and without a bath is classified as a bathroom.
Michael Gove: ...view, but when that decision is taken, it is not taken in a formal way with the Mayor explaining in public to those most affected why he has come to that decision. He can make that decision in the bath. He can make it while he is shaving, in the stands at Craven Cottage or anywhere he likes and then deliver himself of that judgment by posting up on the internet what view he has reached....
Michael Gove: The hon. Lady sets two challenges. The first is that density need not mean constriction or high-rise developments. That is certainly true. We know from Edinburgh, Bath and indeed Islington that housing can be both dense and attractive. Unfortunately, the melancholy trend at the moment is towards densification through the replacement of family houses that have green spaces with flatted...