Speeches by Lewin.

“We spoke earlier about the transition in the context of what it might mean for pension funds and the financial element. I am keen to talk about what the transition might mean for homeowners. Martin, I will come to you first. The Leasehold Advisory Service promotes awareness of the status quo, but I am interested in you…”

“I am Andrew Lewin, MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“Couldn’t a freeholder do that now? Why is that any different?”

“Robert, I am pleased that you are already lending to commonhold. Charles, I agree with what you said about consumer awareness and education. That has to be an important part of this reform. There is a little bit of a contradiction in some of the quite dramatic language that has been using in written evidence about this…”

“Charles, I am keen to come to you first. UK Finance has said: “Moving to commonhold prematurely risks creating operational disruption across the housing system, undermining the government’s ambition to deliver 1.5 million homes”. That is a bold statement. We have heard testimony over the last few weeks about people who…”

“Thank you. Last question: it seems to me that there is a consensus that this is likely to come first via new build, and the value of doing it through the planning system, potentially. Sebastian, to your comments a second ago, just once more for the panel—particularly because we have heard from so many frustrated leaseh…”

“A full house. I appreciate that it might sound like an odd question, but the point I am trying to make is that, when you are talking about pensions and investments, uncertainty always exists. None of us knew a month ago about the situation that we would be in now. You are all saying that this causes grave uncertainty, …”

“I am really interested in that, but we have had a lot of evidence already and I can say with a degree of certainty that a lot of current leaseholders will not be of the view that freeholders have behaved reasonably. Just because it exists in legislation does not mean it has played out in reality. Are you of the view th…”

“I appreciate that this requires secondary legislation, but let me press an example—I am just interested in your thoughts. Let’s say that you are seven years into your 10-year qualifying period, and there is quite an urgent need for major works. You have a 25% share and the registered provider has a 75% share. How do yo…”

“I have one follow-up. You said the problem was with the model and not the Bill.”

“Shared ownership is a growing tenure. Committee colleagues are bored of hearing me say that that is how I got on the housing ladder before I had grey hair. It is a really important part of the conversation about commonhold, so I want to ask you about how this might work practically. In particular, if we take an example…”

“Good morning. I am Andrew Lewin, MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“Come on, Michael; you are liberated!”

“Thank you both for being here. I am enjoying this outbreak of political consensus—there is the serious point that a lot of people watching this will value seeing two people with huge experience and passion on this issue—but I am going to press you both a little further on the transition period. You have talked with gre…”

“If you have any evidence of examples of where freeholders have taken the financial hit themselves and not charged the leaseholders in order to provide—”

“Okay. You had an interesting phrase about the transfer of wealth in respect of buy to let. It was an interesting and perhaps courageous choice, because I think most of the evidence we have heard today suggests that the real transfer of wealth at the moment is going the other way: it is from the leaseholders who live in…”

“First of all, Charmaine, thank you for coming to give evidence. As the Chair set out, there are others who might want to be defending a similar position who were not brave enough to do so. I think that should be recognised at least. I want to take us back, though, to fire safety, because there is a really important poi…”

“Good morning, I am Andrew Lewin, the Labour MP for Welwyn Hatfield.”

“On days like this, I am particularly grateful that NHS waiting lists are falling. Although it seems a long time ago that we heard from the shadow Chancellor, I was very concerned about his blood pressure; he is no longer in his place, so I hope he has gone to get that checked. It is important that we take a breath and …”

“T7. At the Munich security conference, the Prime Minister rightly said that we must do more to work with our allies to build our collective European security. Given that moral imperative, is there an ambition for the UK and the EU to reopen negotiations on UK access to the EU SAFE—security action for Europe—defence mec…”