§ 24. Mr. Lindgrenasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government the effect of the increase of 2½ per cent. in interest charges since November, 1951, on the weekly economic rent of a local authority house costing £1,800 to build.
§ 28. Mr. Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government by how much the economic rent of a corporation house costing £1,800 will be increased by the raising of interest rates on housing loans since October, 1951, and by the proposed abolition of housing subsidies in the case of the type of house at present receiving the £22 1s. per annum subsidy from which subsidy is to be completely removed.
§ Mr. SandysSince the effect of these changes will usually be spread over the whole, or part, of the local authority's existing houses, the figure asked for will vary from area to area.
§ Mr. LindgrenWhy is the right hon. Gentleman so "cagey" and unwilling to admit that 1 per cent. on £1,800 means 6s. a week on the rent, and that, as a result of Government administration, interest charges alone have increased by 15s. a week per house?
§ Mr. SandysThe hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that no local authority will, in practice, allow this increase in costs to fall exclusively on its new houses. If the hon. Gentleman, who seems to have worked it out for himself already, wants a purely theoretical and entirely misleading calculation, I must leave him to do his own arithmetic.
§ Mr. AllaunAs the Minister is so reluctant to give the figure himself, will he not agree that the extra cost is 23s. 11d. a week? May I accuse him—[HON. MEMBERS: "No."]—may I ask him, before forcing through his Measures, to reconsider them, in view of the gross breach of the Government's Election pledge to cut the cost of living?
§ Mr. SandysWhat I am anxious to avoid doing is to publicise a wholly misleading figure.
§ 26. Mr. Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what representations he has received from individual local authorities and local authority associations concerning the increased rates of interest on housing loans and the cuts in the housing subsidies.
§ Mr. SandysThe gist of these representations was that they would like the rates of interest to be lower and the subsidy to be higher.
§ Mr. AllaunWould not the decent thing for the Minister to do be to tell the public that the main blame for this and for the rent increases lies, not on the local authorities, but on the Conservative Government?
§ Mr. SandysI am sure that the hon. Member will make good any deficiency on my part in making that point widely known.
§ 27. Mr. Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what representations he has received from the Manchester and Salford area and other areas of the National Federation of Building Trade Operatives and other building unions seeking housing loans at 2½ per cent. interest and the annulling of the cuts in the housing subsidies.
§ Mr. SandysThe representations were on the lines indicated in the hon. Member's Question.
§ Mr. AllaunIs the Minister aware that leaders of the building unions believe that the Government are consciously proposing to reduce the total building programme to a figure of 200,000 houses a year, with the consequence that the hopes of the homeless will be dashed and unemployment caused within the building industry?
§ Mr. SandysI think that the hon. Member must have been reading up the Labour Government's building programme.
§ Mr. LindgrenWould the right hon. Gentleman explain why, when interest rates changed from 3 per cent. to 3¾ per cent., his predecessor increased the subsidy from £16 10s. to £26 14s. whereas, now, when the interest rate is 5½ per cent. he has abolished the subsidy?
§ Mr. SandysI can assure the hon. Member that the changes which I introduced were made in full accord with my predecessor.