Speeches by Smith.

“I am Sarah Smith. I am a Member of Parliament up in Hyndburn.”

“It is a privilege to witness proceedings and to speak as this landmark Bill is given its Second Reading. As others have remarked, this day is a testament to the courage, resilience and awe-inspiring fortitude of the bereaved families of the 97 Liverpool fans who were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, who shall never b…”

“I want to speak in support of new clause 36, which would require offenders to comply with an earned progression scheme before being subject to release. I think that is an important opportunity to enhance the Government’s ambitions for this Bill, because shoplifting, antisocial behaviour and car break-ins continue to pl…”

“I place on record my thanks to the Minister for his tireless work on the issues in the middle east. The devastation continues for Palestinian people living in Gaza, whether from the murderous intent of Hamas or from further strikes from Israel, which reportedly killed 104 people, including 46 children, overnight. Along…”

“Good morning. I am Sarah Smith. I am the Member of Parliament for Hyndburn.”

“In terms of the 1.5 million new homes that we talked about in earlier contributions, you have expressed that those are not going to have a huge impact on affordability because of the need to build at such scale over a longer period of time. I would be interested to know at what point that scale of house building starts…”

“Briefly concluding on the topic of bank of mum and dad, other than the citizen’s inheritance fund that you mentioned, are there any other specific suggestions or alternatives that we have not yet discussed on how you can counter the inequality caused by the bank of mum and dad, which you are not going to stop happening…”

“Another element, again touched upon in some of the earlier remarks, is the cost of retrofitting and what we do about existing housing stock. I was struck by a report out over the summer about the increase in empty homes as a result of the change in policy around loans and finance available to people buying disused prop…”

“I certainly had not considered before that there was any disadvantage to your parent having a home in London. You have said that there is a bit of an issue there around the size of housing and therefore the opportunity to move back in. There is such a stark difference if your parent has a house with access to London an…”

“Do you want to say a little bit more about how you understand the connection between reliance on a bank of mum and dad and housing affordability to start us off around this topic?”

“As you may be aware, Mr Speaker, Reform-led Lancashire county council has opened a consultation on the future of care homes across Lancashire, including the proposal to close Woodlands care home in my constituency of Hyndburn. Will the Minister join me in urging Lancashire county council not to take forward these propo…”

“Does the Leader of the House agree that access to high-quality residential care close to home is essential for the dignity and wellbeing of our elderly constituents? In Clayton-le-Moors, the Reform-led Lancashire county council is consulting on the future of Woodlands care home, causing deep concern to residents, their…”

“To what extent do the Government’s proposed reforms to the decent homes standard reflect the levels of decency that social tenants ought to expect from their home?”

“I am Sarah Smith, the Labour MP for Hyndburn.”

“I have one short follow-up. I think that Shelter came back and said that the decent homes standard would be of very limited use to tenants because they would not actually be able to use it to enforce their rights. Do you agree with that or how else can we support tenants to enforce their rights, fundamentally?”

“I am going to move on to the decent homes standard and the proposed reforms that the Government have been outlining there. I have been very clear with the Minister that I do not think it is okay that residents should be waiting to 2035 or later to see these reforms implemented. What would the consequences on your organ…”

“You have said that there are about 100,000 homes that are not decent and are suffering from that damp and mould; that is just from your members. What would be the numbers of other people sitting on the panel today, in terms of what percentage or how many of your residents are currently living in homes that are not up t…”

“I welcome yesterday’s ceasefire agreement and the Prime Minister’s statement today, and I recognise the leadership that he and his Ministers have shown on this issue so tirelessly and for such a long time. We know that sustaining the peace is dependent on humanitarian services scaling up rapidly in Gaza, and many NGOs …”

“Baby Loss Awareness Week is an opportunity for those affected by baby loss to remember and commemorate their babies’ lives and to highlight this deeply important subject. I am glad to see that we are doing just that in this debate, and has it not been possibly the best of our Chamber? I pay particular tribute to my hon…”

“Since the new Government came in, there have been significant changes and investment coming forward, but we all understand the urgency. I am sure the Minister will respond by emphasising how she wants to take forward this important agenda—although it is not an agenda at all; it is about meeting the needs of our most vu…”