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Housing and Regeneration Bill

I would not want to give the House the impression that I found anything distasteful or extreme. I just felt that the hon. Gentleman's views were slightly one-sided. Perhaps the Minister will want to comment on that. It is worth repeating the situation in which we find ourselves with respect to the amendments that have been tabled, which Members, including the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes), have mentioned. It is not satisfactory that 137 amendments have been tabled since the Bill came out of the Public Bill Committee, and that 379 amendments have been tabled in all. One could make the case that the Government have shown arrogant disdain for the House in how the Bill has proceeded. Not just Her Majesty's loyal Opposition but all Members have the responsibility and duty to scrutinise legislation properly. However, we have not been given that opportunity on this occasion. Memories of my days on the housing committee of the London borough of Ealing came flooding back to me during the debate. I have not had much to do with housing since then and I was not able to speak on Second Reading and was not called to serve on the Public Bill Committee, so I am not qualified to say whether the Minister is a good bloke, as he was described. The hon. Gentleman has a winning way and an engaging smile. I shall not go further than that, but all those things stand in comparison with his right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing. The debate is only part of our wider examination of the Bill so I do not want to take too much time. I shall focus on the kernel of the debate—new clauses 1, 8 and 9. My right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) presented new clause 9 in a typically intelligent and erudite way, with all his great experience in the housing field. I challenge the Minister to be mindful of the consensus in the House about the provisions in new clause 9 on repossession in respect of rent arrears. The new clause has gained support on both sides of the House so it is incumbent on the Minister to make a strong case as to why it should not be included when the Bill goes to the other place, especially given the support from the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford) and the hon. Member for Luton, South (Margaret Moran). As a general principle, the poorest members of society, who happen to live in social housing, should not be discriminated against because of the inefficiency of local authorities in paying housing benefit, so I hope that the Minister will look on the new clause sympathetically. I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire for his work on the Committee, and to my hon. Friends the Members for North-East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) and for Poole (Mr. Syms). I was looking at the website of the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) and I listened carefully to his comments.