MINISTER FOR HOUSING AND CONSTRUCTION (Hansard, 27 April 1972)

§ Q3. Mr. Clinton Davis
asked the Prime Minister if he will dismiss the Minister for Housing and Construction.

§ The Prime Minister
I have nothing to add to the answer I gave on Tuesday to a Question from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Carter).—[Vol. 835, c. 1271.]

§ Mr. Clinton Davis
Is not the Prime Minister aware that his right hon. Friend has presided over the worst house price inflation that this country has ever seen—a 47 per cent. increase in London in 1971 and still worsening? Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that his 1768 right hon. Friend has presided over the most appalling decline in local authority building and now proposes to preside over the doubling of council rents? Are these suitable qualifications for being a member of his Government.

§ The Prime Minister
I do not accept the allegations made by the hon. Gentleman. Under my right hon. Friend, total housing starts in 1971 were 8 per cent. up on 1970; private housing starts in 1971 were 26 per cent. up on 1970; the number of building society advances was 21 per cent. up in 1971 on 1970; the amount of money advanced was 35 per cent. up in 1971 on 1970; the number of improvement grants—234,000—in 1971 was 30 per cent. up on 1970; three times as many council houses were sold in 1971 as in 1970; and new orders for construction work in 1971 were 11 per cent. up on 1970. That is a record which the Labour Government certainly could not equal.

§ Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles
Instead of their attacking my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction, would it not be more constructive in dealing with this problem if hon. Members opposite were to withdraw their own pig-headed opposition to the sale of council houses?

§ The Prime Minister
There is a substantial body of evidence that a large number of tenants wish to buy their own council houses, and arrangements can be made for them to do so. Local authorities have been given full powers to permit this, and it is the Government's hope that where the demand exists, local authorities will be prepared to agree to these sales.

§ Mr. Harold Wilson
Is the Prime Minister aware that the rise in the price of new houses last year was 21 per cent. in a single year, against 2 per cent. in our last year of office? Is he aware that in the first quarter of this year the rise is running at a rate of nearly 30 per cent.? Is he aware that this is a result of the Government's own decisions on land and on housing, in total contradistinction to the promise which he made at the last election about house prices?

§ The Prime Minister
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be dealing with these matters in the debate 1769 which is to follow. The situation was quite clear under the right hon. Gentleman's Government. The houses were not being built and, because of the financial restrictions of his right hon. Friend the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, mortgages were not available for people to buy their houses. That is the difference between his Administration and ours.

§ Sir Harmar Nicholls
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the resentment from the benches opposite directed at the Minister for Housing and Construction is because he has been factual and robust and hon. Members opposite are not accustomed to such straightforward treatment?

§ The Prime Minister
They have had two years to get used to it. I think they will become accustomed to it in time.

§ Mr. Marks
Does not the Prime Minister agree that his right hon. Friend's insistence that councils should raise their rents by £1 in October whether they want to or not is contrary to what the Prime Minister is saying about rising prices and is contrary to what industry and the trade unions have said? Is it not about time that the Prime Minister got rid of this Minister on this score?

§ The Prime Minister
When does the hon. Gentleman intend to remind the House that in the total number of local authority tenants there are 1¾million who will get rebates under this scheme, and there are at least another 750,000 private tenants who, for the first time under any Government, will get rent allowances under this scheme? Those are the people who are benefiting, quite apart from the additional public funds which are available for clearing the slums and providing special houses for disabled and old people.