Clive Betts MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Feb 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  On these occasions, I always sit and wait for the Lib Dems to accept some responsibility for the financial mess they created in local government. There was a 50% cut in grants to local government during the 14 years, and the biggest part of that cut came during the coalition Government. Is it not time that the hon. Member stood up on behalf of his party and apologised for his role in austerity, which created this crisis?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Local Government Finance · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important point on local housing allowance. When we considered that issue in the Public Accounts Committee, it was pretty obvious that officials had not done any proper assessment of the impact that freezing the allowance would have on homelessness. Something ought to be done. If the Government take the major step of freezing an important allowance, they ought to know what impact that will have on other services.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Southport Attack · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his statement, and particularly for the intention to review and reform Prevent. May I ask him to look at the role of social media, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Tulip Siddiq) did earlier, but to do so in the context of the tragic killing of Harvey Willgoose at All Saints Catholic high school in Sheffield on Monday? My sympathies go out to Harvey’s family, his friends and those at the school, particularly those who witnessed this tragic and awful incident at first hand. South Yorkshire police have told me that after the incident, many comments and speculations about what had happened appeared online—some downright misleading, while some, as in the Southport case, could have prejudiced a future inquiry and future trial. The social media companies have a responsibility in this regard. Worse still, perhaps, the police told me that immediately after the attack, there was a video on social media of Harvey receiving CPR in the school. I found that absolutely appalling. When South Yorkshire police approached social media—I understand that Meta was the platform—and asked them to take the video down, their answer was that because there was no violence in the video, it was not their policy to take it down. What can the Minister and his colleagues do to get the social media companies to behave responsibly in a situation such as this? Imagine how Harvey’s family and friends must feel seeing that video online.

• 20 Jan 2025 · Social Housing Providers: Section 106 · Hansard source

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  I know that my hon. Friend is committed to increasing the provision of social housing. In the past few years, most social housing has been provided through section 106 agreements. According to the National Housing Federation, thousands of houses around the country are available but cannot be purchased under section 106 agreements because registered social landlords simply do not have the resources. I am sure that he is aware of that problem, but does he have any plans to deal with it and bring those houses, which are badly needed, back into use?

• 20 Jan 2025 · Social Housing Providers: Section 106 · Hansard source

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  14. If she will take steps to support social housing providers to fund houses made available under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

• 16 Jan 2025 · Marine Renewables Industry · Hansard source

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  That is not, strictly speaking, a point of order for the Chair, but it is relevant to the debate, so I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising it and putting it on the record.

• 16 Jan 2025 · Marine Renewables Industry · Hansard source

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  I ask the Minister not to comment on the benefits of that.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Northern Gaza · Hansard source

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  I want to return to the issue of the recognition of an independent Palestinian state. As I understand it, the Government’s position is that Israel has no veto on the creation of a Palestinian state. The Minister just said in response to a previous question that recognition has to come through diplomatic efforts. Do those diplomatic efforts have to involve Israel? If so, and Israel refuses to co-operate in them, does that not effectively give Israel a veto over the creation of a Palestinian state?

• 6 Jan 2025 · Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse · Hansard source

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  In 2014-15, the then Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee did a report on CSE in Rotherham. That report drew heavily on the evidence from Alexis Jay’s first report, which was on the problems in Rotherham, the failings of the police, the failings of the council and the failings of Ofsted. What that surely shows is that a local authority-commissioned inquiry, which is what Alexis Jay’s first inquiry was, can get to the bottom of these problems, expose the failings and lead to improvements at local level. Surely Oldham council can do exactly the same.

• 18 Dec 2024 · Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement · Hansard source

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  I very much welcome today’s statement and the extra funding that has been announced. I commend the Minister for repeatedly reminding the Conservative party of 14 years of austerity, during which local government saw bigger cuts to its budgets than any other part of the public sector. Of course, the Lib Dems were a party to the coalition Government when the worst of those cuts were made. May I ask my hon. Friend two questions? First, when he comes to consider more fundamental reforms—which we accept will not be in place for another year—will he look at the council tax system as a whole? It is an unfair and regressive system that takes a disproportionate amount of money from the poorest people in the poorest houses. Secondly, can he confirm that the local audit office will be a stand-alone body that looks at public sector audit, not an add-on to the audit, reporting and governance authority—a previous proposal—which was basically to be a private sector body that looked at local government as an afterthought?

• 17 Dec 2024 · Trades and Apprenticeships · Hansard source

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  Probably much to his surprise, I am going to call Jim Shannon as the next speaker.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west · Hansard source

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  Order. Interventions should be brief and to the point for hon. Members to respond to. They should not be another speech.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west · Hansard source

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  We now move on to the Front Benchers. The two Opposition spokespeople have no more than five minutes, and then the Minister will probably have about 10 minutes left.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west · Hansard source

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  Order. I am going to have to squeeze speeches down to no more than four minutes.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west · Hansard source

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  Order. “You” and “your” refer to the Chair.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west · Hansard source

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  Order. Given the number of Back Benchers who wish to speak, you will probably have to keep to less than five minutes each. Also, at some point we may have to suspend the sitting for 45 minutes to vote, so please do not speak unless you are prepared to come back when the debate resumes.

• 12 Dec 2024 · Building Homes · Hansard source

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  I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I welcome the commitment to overall house building targets—we cannot hit a national target with clear local targets. I welcome in particular the commitment to social housing. Will the Minister confirm that that means social housing, not the affordable housing that the shadow Minister mentioned? There is a big difference there. The viability of brownfield sites is lower and section 106 contributions will be lower, so if we are to concentrate on brownfield sites, will the Minister make the point to the Chancellor that to deliver social housing in the numbers needed, she might have to reconsider the amount of social housing grant that she provides?

• 9 Dec 2024 · Planning Committees: Reform · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will know that I am passionately committed to local councils and local democracy, but does he understand the frustration that many of us feel when a planning authority democratically approves a local plan after consulting the community, but then, when an application is made to build homes, the same councillors turn down the application, despite it being consistent with the local plan? Is the Minister’s main objective to try to remove that sort of decision making, which holds up the whole process, and to ensure, in consultation with the Local Government Association and others in local government, that we can find a better way forward, so that we can get the permissions to build the homes that the country badly needs?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way on the point about industry’s responsibility. It is right that social housing tenants and leaseholders should not have to bear the burden of rectifying these buildings. Individual developers and the development industry have been financially held to account, at least to a significant degree, but the one part of industry that has got completely away with it so far is the product manufacturers. So far, they have not been asked to pay anything towards rectifying the buildings, and as the Grenfell inquiry showed, they are responsible for a lot of the problems. Will my right hon. Friend indicate what consideration is being given to a scheme to make sure the product manufacturers pay their fair share of the costs?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way once again. To go back to the issue of the product manufacturers, I am really pleased to hear what she says about Government contracts for the worst offenders, but will she consider giving guidance to local authorities and other public bodies, such as the NHS, to make sure that they are also aware of the need not to award contracts to these companies?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments about the work of the Select Committee. On product safety and product testing, what the Hackitt report, as well as the Select Committee, found was the extent to which product manufacturers were going from one testing place to another until they found one that agreed that their product was safe. Products often failed the tests, but those failures were never in the public domain. Does he think that there ought to be a change of process, so that when a product fails in one testing place, that failure is made known publicly?

• 26 Nov 2024 · Israeli Settler Violence: Sanctions · Hansard source

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  I listened carefully to my right hon. Friend’s answer. He said that he will not speculate on future sanctions, but the two Israeli Ministers named are encouraging settler violence and have called for the annexation of the west bank by Israel. Does my right hon. Friend accept that, even if he will not talk about further sanctions today, he can recognise that the threat of annexation is real, and that until we come out clearly in support of an independent Palestinian state, the settlers will continue their violence in the belief that they will eventually achieve the annexation that they want?

• 26 Nov 2024 · Israeli Settler Violence: Sanctions · Hansard source

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  10. Whether he plans to extend existing sanctions in response to settler violence in the west bank to Israeli Ministers.

• 19 Nov 2024 · Ukraine: 1,000 Days · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. Indeed, I thank him and our right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary for their joint leadership on this matter. The key issue, as far as I can see, is the shipment of oil. Oil is the lifeblood for Putin financing his illegal activities, and sanctions are the way we have to stop that. Will my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary give an assurance that there are now no British individuals or companies engaged in the illegal shipment of oil or its financing? If he cannot give that assurance today, what further action will he take so he can come to the House in the relatively near future and do so?

• 14 Nov 2024 · Council Tax · Hansard source

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  Let me take my hon. Friend on a trip down memory lane. When I first became a councillor—only 48 years ago—councils had the freedom to raise rates for domestic and non-domestic property. Should we not, at some point, start a conversation with councils and the wider public about whether thresholds at all are appropriate? Councils in this country have less freedom to raise local taxation than virtually any other councils in western Europe. Council tax itself is regressive, both between individuals and between different local authorities. Can we not start that conversation at some point?