Speeches by Lewin.

“Welwyn Hatfield stands to be a big beneficiary of the social housing warm homes plan. It won a grant of £6 million, meaning that hundreds of homes will be upgraded and retrofitted, which will see bills and emissions coming down. Our colleagues from Reform have a flair for language, and they talk about “net stupid zero”…”

“The new towns commission is an important piece of work. We had Sir Michael Lyons before us a few weeks ago. I am proud to represent the two best new towns in the country, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City—I have a colleague from Milton Keynes who might dispute that, but he is not here today.”

“Great, thank you. I turn to the spending review. There is a commitment to £4.8 billion of funding towards financial investments to invite private investment, which is going to be overseen by Homes England, but we have heard a lot in this Committee about how the housing market has become dominated by a small number of b…”

“If you don’t mind, Chair, before I go on to my substantive question about financial investment and the spending review, I have a quick follow-up on shared ownership. Colleagues in the Select Committee may know this because I have referenced it before. I am a beneficiary of shared ownership; it is how I was able to get …”

“Andrew Lewin, Welwyn Hatfield.”

“Absolutely. Obviously, the commission is crucial to how we build communities for the 21st century. We had a great session with Michael. He had previously talked about the report being published in July, but we saw a letter that did not mention July. Is that still the planned timetable, and if not, how quickly will we s…”

“Great, thank you. A final question from me. I have been diving a little bit into the numbers with the help of the Clerks. I just want to get my understanding right. We just talked about the £4.8 billion. The spending review also talks about £2.5 billion for low-interest loans for exclusively social housing providers. I…”

“The postcode in which a person is born still has a profound impact on the life they lead. That is no more true than in my constituency, where those born in Hatfield have a healthy life expectancy that is 11 years shorter than those born three miles down the road in Brookmans Park. Does my right hon. Friend agree that i…”

“Apologies—in his Devon constituency over the summer to develop some credible policies of his own? If he does not, he is not credible from the Dispatch Box.”

“I always listen attentively to the shadow Chancellor, in this place and in his many media rounds. Sadly, what is missing is a costed economic policy of his own. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the shadow Chancellor might be wise to spend some quality time in his beautiful Dorset constituency—”

“Morgan, thank you for your very powerful testimony both in describing the scale of the problem and the ways we could address it. Is this challenge universally distributed across the country, or is it particularly acute in our cities in the south of England, where we know we have a particular problem with house values? …”

“We have had a very welcome announcement of £39 billion for the Affordable Homes Programme over the next 10 years, but the point has been made that demand is most acute for social rent. Oliver, you said the OPSO needs reform. In your view, does that need to happen before it is the beneficiary of any future AHP money?”

“I am conscious of time, but I am keen to talk about Older Persons Shared Ownership in a little more detail. As someone who was once a young person, shared ownership was my route on to the housing ladder, and I personally had a good experience. I am also acutely aware of the challenges that exist and that the older pers…”

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

“As the newest member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, I want to start with my own thank you to my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), who has been such a welcoming Chair and who drives forward our business with passion and conviction. I will focus my …”

“When I visited my Ukrainian Saturday school in Welwyn Garden City, many of the parents impressed on me the importance of having the option for Ukrainian children to study a GCSE in the Ukrainian language. As it stands, somebody can study Russian, but not Ukrainian, and I have promised to take up the cause. I have writt…”

“Buying your first home in particular should be a moment of such great excitement for people. Often, they have waited and saved for 10 or 15 years—or even longer—to be able to do it. Beth, as you have already touched upon, we all hear so many stories of solicitors not providing that vital information to prospective home…”

“Perhaps this is one for you, Halima. This is a really important debate about what people are aware of at the point at which they buy their home. But there are also far too many stories of people believing it is affordable then, but five years on, you have had a series of increases in prices that are significantly above…”

“Beth, just to you quickly on regulation, are there other countries that do this well that we can take inspiration from?”

“One last thing—you regret distress caused but you have not said sorry. From my professional experience before being elected, if you are a company in the private sector and things have gone wrong, you are more likely to be heard in the future if you are brave enough to just say, “I am sorry”.”