Decent Homes

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 2:30 pm on 3 March 2005.

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Photo of Mr Andrew Bennett Mr Andrew Bennett Labour, Denton and Reddish 2:30, 3 March 2005

That is certainly one possibility. I find it crazy that, according to the Government, it is perfectly all right for a housing association to borrow money because that money will be repaid from the rents of the properties and the interest paid on it, yet it is wrong for the local authority to borrow money on exactly the same basis, with exactly the same guarantee that it will be repaid.

All sorts of nonsense come from the European Union and the Treasury about what counts as public borrowing. It is asserted that public borrowing is somehow bad, but private borrowing is perfectly all right. We should have challenged such nonsense long ago.