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Affordable Housing

I am being encouraged to say no, but I do not need any prompting. The money raised from the right to buy should be reinvested in social housing, and the fact that that has not happened is to the discredit of the Labour Government, whom I would have expected to do that given their philosophy and background. Housing is a very attractive investment, as well as being a route to secure ownership. Deposits are much larger than they were 10 years ago, and parents are increasingly helping their children to put up the deposit. Multiples of earnings are at record highs, and the position is supported by households who earn double incomes. The whole pyramid—the Select Committee report hints at this and took evidence on the point—depends on the long-term security and price expansion of the home-ownership market. There is clearly a tension between securing that and making housing affordable and accessible. If we were to follow the Barker report view that we should go for a 1.1 per cent. increase in house prices, which would match the European average—I understand from the hon. Member for Surrey Heath that that is the comparison that we should use—we would need to construct an additional 140,000 homes each year on top of the existing numbers to suppress that price bubble. The Government might introduce such a policy, and this House might approve it, but there is still a major tension between maintaining vigorous and sustained growth in house prices in order to sustain the economy and the security of those who are already on the ladder and making the ladder long enough at the bottom for new people to get on it.