Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 26 November 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:56, 26 November 2019

I can hear—I can hear the nonsense being offered to me, Llywydd, from my left in the Chamber. That party's policies, from the days of Mrs Thatcher onwards, have led to a decimation of council stock right across the United Kingdom. It's why we've abolished the right to buy here in Wales—to preserve council houses in those parts of Wales where young families need them to get on the housing ladder and where that ability has been stripped away from them because of the actions of his party, with the support of Mr Reckless whenever he had the chance to do so.

Now that we have an opportunity to reverse that position, to get councils building houses again, I am immensely cheered by the appetite of our local authority partners of all parties to take advantage of the new opportunities that there will be there. That's why I was able to give those figures to Mark Reckless in my initial answer—figures that demonstrate the appetite among councils that are under Labour control, under Plaid Cymru control, under no control of any council. Right across Wales, there are councils that want to build council houses, because they know the urgency of the need. We are determined to do it here in the Welsh Government, and, with a Labour Government in Westminster, our ability to do that will be immensely improved.