Contributions
1,009 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDraft Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. The measures under consideration are not controversial, and we will support them, but this is perhaps an opportunity to…08 Mar 2021HANSARDDraft Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021Absolutely, and in response to comments made by the Minister. Homeowners, for example, would have had more encouragement to green their homes had the Government not cancelled the…08 Mar 2021HANSARDDraft Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021It is connected with the issues of concern, and the Minister was speaking about encouraging home-owners to green their homes. Sorry, I was merely making comments in response to…08 Mar 2021HANSARDHigh StreetsI offer my condolences on behalf of the Opposition to the family of Julia Clifford on their very, very sad loss. High streets need support to help them to recover, so will the…22 Feb 2021HANSARD Local Government Finance (England)I start by echoing the Secretary of State’s praise for frontline council workers and others involved in delivering frontline public services, including volunteers. They really…10 Feb 2021HANSARD Local Government Finance (England)I absolutely agree. I urge the Government to think again, scrap the Chancellor’s council tax bomb- shell, stop stuffing billions of pounds into Conservative party donors’ pockets…10 Feb 2021HANSARD Towns FundI am sorry, there is not going to be time. How embarrassing, yet how typical of this Government that the Secretary of State and the right hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen…04 Feb 2021HANSARD Towns FundThe Government like to talk about levelling up the country, but sadly their record shows they have done the precise opposite. Since they were first elected in 2010, the…04 Feb 2021HANSARDHolocaust Memorial Day 2021The House has made it clear today in this very important debate why future generations must know the history of the holocaust. I congratulate the very large number of Members on…28 Jan 2021HANSARDCouncil Tax: Government’s Proposed IncreaseIt was actually the Secretary of State for Transport who told the Mayor of London that he had to increase council tax. [ Interruption. ] Oh yes, it was. The reason there is a…25 Jan 2021HANSARDCouncil Tax: Government’s Proposed IncreaseI am glad the hon. Gentleman raises that, because when I won control of Lambeth Council for the Labour party in 2006, we took over from an administration, jointly run by the…25 Jan 2021HANSARDCouncil Tax: Government’s Proposed IncreaseThe Secretary of State may want to correct the record, because actually I froze council tax, with a zero increase, the year following the crisis in 2007-08 and the year after that…25 Jan 2021HANSARDCouncil Tax: Government’s Proposed IncreaseThe Secretary of State has already given the hon. Gentleman the answer, and I am very pleased to repeat what the Secretary of State and the Chancellor said last March: they would…25 Jan 2021HANSARDCouncil Tax: Government’s Proposed IncreaseI beg to move, That this House calls on the Prime Minister to drop the Government’s plans to force local councils to increase council tax in the middle of a pandemic by providing…25 Jan 2021HANSARDDraft West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Election of Mayor and Functions) Order 2021Thank you, Mr Hollobone; I might not avail myself of all the time that you have generously allocated to us. I am grateful for the Minister’s comments. I suspect this will not be…20 Jan 2021HANSARDLocal Authority FundingMay I take this opportunity to congratulate Christina McAnea on being elected the general secretary of Unison? It is Britain’s biggest trade union and of course has many members…11 Jan 2021HANSARDHigh Street RegenerationAs we have been hearing, high streets are struggling like never before. When will the Government level the playing field on business rates between high street retailers and online…11 Jan 2021HANSARD Provisional Local Government Finance SettlementI thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, and I echo his words of thanks to council staff for the sterling work they have carried out in the most daunting…17 Dec 2020HANSARD The Future of the High StreetAs today is the first day of Hanukkah, I would like to wish everyone in the Jewish community chag sameach. I am afraid that the Government are standing by as Britain’s high…10 Dec 2020HANSARD Towns FundThe Secretary of State is accused today of blocking money from the £3.6 billion towns fund going to the most deprived towns for which it was intended, and instead funnelling it…18 Nov 2020