Group 6. Coming into force of the abolition provisions (Amendments 12, 4)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:58 pm on 28 November 2017.

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Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 5:58, 28 November 2017

Okay. Well, you know, Mike, I've said that we need to build more houses. I've said that I'm happy with councils building houses now. In fact, I said that, I think, before colleagues in Westminster, in my party, came round to this. We just need to build. Whatever the necessary mechanisms or the help that would allow us to do that, I'm going to be very pragmatic. That's all I can say.

So, it will remain, principally, an issue of supply. I have to say, on that issue, that certainly during the life of the fifth Assembly, in the housing debates and all the interventions I've been able to make, I have consistently challenged the housing projections, asked the Government to accept the alternative projection that they commissioned Professor Holmans to come up with, and pushed and pushed on this issue. Now we are seeing some intimations of change. I notice the sector out there is getting a bit more demanding about the number of social homes we should have, and I think that that is a good thing. We do need to build many, many more homes.

But I believe, as do my colleagues, that the right to buy was a liberating and expansive policy for many, many people. How many? Well, 150,000 or so took this opportunity. It's become less popular because now it's perhaps not as attractive to as many people that remain in social housing. Given the price of houses, we are probably going to see the need for greater social housing provision anyway, but it was a fantastically successful policy. It remains a popular policy, as we saw in the evidence in the committee, and from views expressed by tenants and polling evidence out there. I do tell you this: I don't think we've seen the last of the right to buy. I think it is going to be an issue that will return, and there will always be its champions on this side, who will sing that song of a method of great home ownership that many people aspire to.