Speeches by Cocking.

“You are very passionate: succinctly, in a couple of sentences, what do you want to happen or what do you think is not in this Bill?”

“Developing Sarah’s question a bit more, Liam, you said that, if we have increased regulation, that will put up cost of service charge. I fully understand that, if we move to commonhold, those people will have the power to hire and fire, so that will improve some of the management agents out there—but if we do not have …”

“I am Lewis Cocking, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Broxbourne. I am a leaseholder as well.”

“Will the Secretary of State give way?”

“Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that if the Government are going to push forward with auto-enrolment on to the electoral roll, it should at least apply to everybody at the same time, for the same general election? If not, they could be perceived by the British people as gerrymandering to get a specific result …”

“I completely agree. I do not think the Government have spent much time considering that fundamental flaw and how we take communities with us by getting that identity right. The people of Spelthorne feel strongly about their historical ties to Middlesex, and I urge the Minister to listen to those concerns. Creating big …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. When creating new unitary councils, it is important that we take communities with us, and community identity is really important. I have raised concerns about this whole devolution and unitarisation process and how we take all the communities within the shir…”

“Having decided that elections should go ahead after all, will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating Conservative-run Broxbourne council on defending democracy from day one and never once considering delaying its elections? Will he confirm that this Labour Government will not use the same tactics to delay the…”

“The SEND system needs urgent and serious reform. Families I speak to in Broxbourne have been battling against an unfair funding formula that sees pupils get thousands of pounds less than elsewhere in the country. Will the Secretary of State reassure me and my constituents that historical demand will no longer be a fact…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) on securing this important debate. Supported exempt accommodation plays a critical role across the country, but as we have heard, there are clear issues that need to be resolved. It provides …”

“Lewis Cocking, MP for Broxbourne and I am also a leaseholder.”

“My goodness, I do not know where to start, to be honest. I have lots of questions. I am a bit shocked that you have come in front of us today without some of the information that we have been asking for. I do have one question to start with for clarity. I will take you back to the question that was raised by the Chair …”

“I am not going to get any answer out of you two. It is very disappointing that you have come here really unprepared. Andrew, lots of people join up to The Property Institute. Do you just take any of these companies, or do you do any checks that any of them are any good?”

“Sure? But did it or did it not? This is a significant issue that has been on national news across the country and that is negative for your company. “Sure”, as in it did cross your desk? Did it or did it not cross your desk?”

“No, that is not what I am asking. I am asking about a specific issue about your company that has made national media in the United Kingdom. Did it cross your desk or not? I am not asking about every specific issue we have raised today, or every specific issue your company faces. This is an example of an issue that has …”

“When you have your board meetings, no one presents you with an average figure? No one says, “Out of all of the properties we have managed, this year, on average, service charges have gone up £100”? That is nonsense. Are you hearing the answers you are giving us?”

“Have you ever turned anyone down from joining?”

“I do not want you to take any more time, because you are not filling me with confidence that you even know about that issue, and that is shocking considering that you are in charge of the organisation that made national news. One of my colleagues asked you a question, and you both gave answers in percentages that do no…”

“Hang on a minute, one second. You have come in front of a Select Committee of Members of Parliament; you have significant issues, both of you, with your organisations—I have not found one person that is happy with either of you across all of the properties that are managed in my constituency—and you cannot tell us, in …”

“What would they have to do to be turned down from joining?”