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Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Bill empowers unauthorised tenants to apply to a court for a delay of up to two months when their home is being repossessed. In November 2002 I was drawn 17th in the private Members' ballot and, despite that, successfully managed to steer through the Bill that became the Marine Safety Act 2003. In November 2009, I was fortunate enough to be drawn first in the ballot for private Members' Bills in what will be my final Session in Parliament. I hope that this Bill will be as successful as my previous private Member's Bill. After attempting to steer the Registration Service Bill through, I persuaded my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing, when he was the Treasury Minister with responsibility for the Office for National Statistics, to include the clauses in my private Member's Bill in the Statistics Bill announced in the Queen's Speech in 2006, so I can claim some credit, too, for the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. As the House knows, more recently I have been attempting to prevent street traders using the Pedlars Acts of 1871 and 1881 to trade illegally, by introducing the Pedlars (Street Trading Regulation) Bill both as a ten-minute Bill and in the following year as a presentation Bill. However, I will leave it to other Members to see that business through.