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Housing and Regeneration Bill

The hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) is not alone in his experience in his surgeries of the despair of those who face repossession. He is not alone in facing the damning lists of people who are desperate for housing, but he is right to tackle the matter in the way in which he has done. In my 37 years in local government, I have always believed that council housing was a good thing for any local authority. I am proud to have been brought up in a council house and I was always proud of the relationship between the tenant, the local authority and the Government. That triangle of strength, whereby all three sides worked together, was good for people. It provided decent homes in areas where they were needed. Mistakes were made—we have all seen the consequences—but the overwhelming majority of people who lived in council houses in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s believed that they were in a decent home and that they could rely on their landlord to take on their responsibilities. That position changed dramatically, first, under the Heath Administration with the Housing Finance Act 1972, which changed local authorities' responsibility. In the early 1980s, Prime Minister Thatcher fundamentally disposed of councils' right to build houses and made it increasingly difficult. She believed that she could change the system of providing social housing in this country. Hon. Members who have already spoken clearly identified that that experiment in trying to shift matters, which worked for a while, is failing now. The hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington eloquently exposed the decline in housing associations' ability to provide new housing. They do not want to take the risks involved—in many instances, they cannot afford it. They know that, if they build, few people will be able to afford the rents that they must charge for the development.