Speeches by Cooper.

“Chloe, the Government have said that their proposal will ensure that the necessary level of accessible housing is provided, while giving local authorities the flexibility to maximise house building overall. To what extent do you think that mandating part M4(2) would constrain the supply of new homes, if indeed you thin…”

“The Government have not included a recommendation for a minimum percentage of new build homes that should comply with M4(3), although in the London plan they are requiring 10%. Do you think that the Government should specify a minimum percentage of new homes that should comply with M4(3) nationally?”

“I am Andrew Cooper, the Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.”

“This is just a quick question to you, Richard. The NHBC provides road and sewer bonds to developers to potentially cover the costs of completing construction, should the developer be unable or unwilling to complete. I have heard evidence in my area of where councils are requiring 100% coverage on the bonds. That is not…”

“Does that apply to utilities as well, so United Utilities versus Thames Water versus Severn Trent?”

“I join the Home Secretary in commending the bravery of victims in coming forward to give evidence to this inquiry. We owe it to them to make this a turning point and to make certain that the systemic failures and culture that made this attack possible are fixed and can never be repeated. Many of us in this House will r…”

“Well, perhaps you could tell us now.”

“Minister, I would like to push you a bit further on the issue of 40 years. You described how there is a range of views on that. You will have heard Lord Gove’s evidence to the Committee that he was convinced that 20 years struck the right balance, and that he convinced the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that 20 years …”

“I am Andrew Cooper, the Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.”

“When you eventually introduce this Bill, on First Reading will you be able to publish a draft of that secondary legislation so that it will be clear to the social housing sector and to current shared owners what you mean precisely by “specified purposes”? That way, while the legislation is going through Parliament, eve…”

“Is that separate? Is that going to be delivered in this Parliament as well?”

“Okay. Do the timescales for that align with those for this Parliament? Is it likely that those recommendations will be delivered in time for you to get an Act passed before the end of this Parliament?”

“Turning to the right to manage, you have already said that you want to produce separate primary legislation on the right to manage for commonhold, leasehold and freehold homes on private estates. Is that work already under way? Is the Law Commission working on a draft Bill for you at the moment on that?”

“Fair enough. We have heard, though, from many leaseholders about the impact that development value in particular is having on enfranchisement premiums, which they think might be a barrier to converting to commonhold for many blocks. Do you think that could specifically be carved out and addressed in the final Bill?”

“I want to move on to the Law Commission’s recommendations. As you will be aware, Minister, the Law Commission produced a series of reports between 2020 and 2021 around enfranchisement—right to manage, commonhold and the price payable on enfranchisement. Why did the Government choose not to include the remaining Law Com…”

“My constituents are being exploited by unscrupulous petrol retailers who are not letting a crisis go to waste. At BP in Winsford unleaded is 10p more per litre than the cheapest price in the area, and at Shell in Middlewich it is 15p more per litre. Does the Competition and Markets Authority have the powers that it nee…”

“My question was going to be: what do you think has changed? What new evidence has emerged?”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) on securing the debate and pay tribute to him for the strong case he made on behalf of his residents in Cheadle. If I was in his position, I would make broadly the same arguments. However, I am the Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire, and I have to speak for my…”

“I am conscious of time, so I will ask you one last thing. Do you think there will be any differences between people on older person’s shared ownership versus the more mainstream new model of shared ownership that are relevant to how the Bill will operate?”

“To be fair, the Bill has not set this out yet, has it? It says that the Secretary of State will make regulations, so they will use secondary legislation to define where that would sit. Is it your view, then, that a taskforce or some body should be set up to look into this to define what that secondary legislation shoul…”