Speeches by Powell.

“I thank my constituency neighbour for that point. The Imperial College trust has the highest major repair backlog of any NHS estate in the country, so we hope that it will, on merit, be a strong candidate in the Secretary of State’s review of the new hospital programme. As the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Brent…”

“In July, I was proud to be elected the new Member of Parliament for Kensington and Bayswater—a fantastic community but one that has, like so much of the country, suffered 14 years of low growth, stagnant wages and crumbling public services. We have some of the highest health inequalities in the country. The major local…”

“I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his new position. On the theme of broken promises and capital investment, and in the spirit of a fresh start, I wonder whether he will extend an apology to my constituents who were promised a new hospital under the new hospital programme, which was never funded in any forward-looki…”

“Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“All of us will have constituents who are concerned about the quality of temporary accommodation. I have an open question initially for the panel. How effective are local authorities currently at monitoring the quality of the temporary accommodation that you use?”

“It is encouraging to hear that there might be some best practice around the communications, but could you explain a bit more what that looks like from the family’s perspective? Could something be built out to be more of a standard or something that could be applied more widely?”

“How would your housing officers respond if a family rejected a TA placement because they saw mould or rats or evidence of all the stuff that we see in our inboxes? How would your housing officers deal with that situation?”

“Digging further into the sanctions and accountability for poor standards, Grace, you mentioned the setting standards scheme. It might be useful to understand a bit more wheher that is working. Have rogue landlords actually been identified and then blacklisted across councils? Does anyone else want to come in on that qu…”

“I know a lot of families are desperate to maintain local links. Then they have these long commutes to school, then absenteeism and so on. I was linking it to a previous discussion we had about being honest about the time people might be spending. Are you encouraging your housing officers to have those frank conversatio…”

“Given the humanitarian collapse in Gaza and the risk of mass starvation, the Knesset vote is obviously deeply dangerous for the Palestinians, but does it not also send a deeply dangerous signal internationally to civilians in conflict zones, in that other states that have been accused of violating international humanit…”

“I warmly thank the Secretary of State and the full ministerial team for their hard work mobilising the additional money from frozen Russian sovereign assets. I hope that other countries will follow UK leadership on this. In mobilising every tool across the Government, and with winter approaching, may I ask the Secretar…”

“The shadow Minister may remember that he failed personally to support the suspension of Owen Paterson after he was found guilty of lobbying and being paid thousands of pounds to raise questions in Parliament. Does the Minister agree that today’s conversion to standards and integrity rings completely hollow?”

“I wish my parliamentary namesake a happy birthday. Dockless e-bikes are an increasingly popular transport mode in Kensington and Chelsea and in Westminster, yet local authorities do not have the powers to regulate inappropriate parking and antisocial behaviour. Would the Leader of the House consider granting time to de…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the unintended consequences of section 21 is that people often do not report damp and mould or the repairs that they need for fear of eviction, because they will be pushed into finding a new tenancy, which they simply cannot afford?”

“It is a great privilege to follow that excellent speech. The Renters’ Reform Bill is potentially transformative for Kensington and Bayswater, as it is for the whole country. Nearly 45% of my constituents are now private renters—a huge increase in the last decade and now the biggest tenure type by some distance. Those r…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) on securing this debate and giving the subject the attention it deserves. We obviously share a border, but we also share an office in this place that, with its high ceilings and windows, comfortable sofas and views of Whitehall…”

“I would like to put on the record the thanks of my constituents in Kensington and Bayswater, which includes the wider Grenfell community, for the cross-party support last week when the phase 2 report of the Grenfell inquiry was published. We thank the Minister and the Government for making time today and for committing…”

“T3. Over the weekend, Lord MacDonald, the former director of public prosecutions, warned that court backlogs and the complexity of any trials that may arise from a CPS decision in 2026 about the victims of the Grenfell fire may further delay justice. Could the Minister give us and the victims reassurance that the crimi…”

“T6. Businesses—especially creative industries—in Kensington and Bayswater tell me that they are fed up with the adversarial relationship we have had with the EU and the pointless red tape and trade barriers that have come with it. Will the Minister outline what steps the Government are taking to address that challenge?”

“As we have heard, it is now more than seven years since 72 people lost their lives in Grenfell Tower in north Kensington. As we have heard again today, the disaster was entirely foreseen and entirely preventable. It was the result of organisations and individuals being systemically dishonest and putting profit before p…”