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Greater London Authority Bill

If the statutory bodies such as the Housing Corporation, the Tory elected boroughs and, in some cases, the RSLs in London were doing the job that we would all like them to do, some of the provisions in the Bill might not be necessary. It makes sense that strategic powers for housing and planning should pass to the strategic body, with the caveat that we must safeguard local decisions. However, we probably would not be debating this Bill were it not for the mostly deliberate neglect by Conservative councils and the spineless attitude of some of the statutory bodies. The debate is moving on from the 50 per cent. point. I know that most Conservatives, as the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field) has suggested, are still not persuaded of that point, but an increasing number of Conservative councils are—and that makes me suspicious. They are persuaded of it because they wish to build housing for sale—not low-cost housing, but housing that will sell for £200,000, £300,000 and even £400,000. It is an act of the utmost cynicism to purport to build affordable housing while actually building housing that is way out of reach not only of people who wish to move out of rented social housing, but of anybody—