Joe Powell
MP for Kensington and Bayswater · Labour · United Kingdom
“T7. I warmly welcome the Government’s swift introduction of the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent last week. The activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have caused huge concern across the country and in particular to my Iranian and Jewish communities.”
“My constituent Billy Hood, a son and father, has spent more than five years in a prison in the United Arab Emirates after being convicted of possessing trace amounts of cannabidiol vape oil.”
“T2. This week it was revealed that Thames Water had slowed its reporting of pollution incidents by 70% since 2022, which is yet another example of institutional failure that has hurt residents across the region.”
“I note the recent data showing that support for renewables in this country is now at 81% of the public. Certainly, in every visit that I make to meet young people, including students at Imperial College London, climate change is one of the first issues they raise; they are concerned about the future that they are going to inherit.”
“People want politicians to serve their interests, not those of billionaires or millionaires based overseas, whether they are in the US, Russia, Thailand or, indeed, Montenegro. The revelations of the last few days have shown how important it is to update our rules.”
“I welcome the focus on supporting low and middle-income households. The Minister will know that after the July 2021 floods in central London, denial of flood insurance or punitive excesses for people living in blocks of four or more flats has been a serious problem. That is a big chunk of my constituents.”
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“In Kensington and Bayswater, there is now a staggering 19-year gap in life expectancy between men living in Notting Dale and those living in Holland Park—which are just hundreds of metres apart—and that gap has grown in recent years. The Minister knows that this is a whole-of-society issue to do with housing, employment and education, but can he outline what steps the Department are taking to help inner-city areas with very high levels of health inequality, such as that experienced by my constituents in Kensington?”
“Might the Chancellor elaborate on the national debt that the previous Government inherited in 2010, compared with what we inherited last year?”
“The Conservatives have no credible economic plan for dealing with the debt, no credible plan for growth, and no credibility whatsoever with the British public. What they did to the public finances and the national debt even before the pandemic is unforgivable.”
“I congratulate the shadow Chancellor on securing a debate on this motion. When this Government came into office, they found Britain’s public finances vandalised, the economy wrecked, debts soaring, sky-high mortgages, a cost of living crisis that has touched every household in this country, and a mismanaged pandemic, rife with dodgy contracts and corruption. The Conservatives today pretend that they have discovered fiscal responsibility, but we all remember that they increased taxes 25 times in the last Parliament, and gifted us the reckless Liz Truss mini-Budget, which sent mortgages spiralling and tanked the markets. No Government in living memory have had a worse economic inheritance than this one.”
“The Conservatives left Britain with rising debt and flatlining growth, yet they oppose the very measures that the Government have taken to fix their mess.”
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention, because it is important to talk about debt. I was disappointed that the shadow Chancellor failed to acknowledge that the inheritance in 2024 was total national debt of close to 100% of GDP, which was up from 60% in 2010. The annual debt payments that the Government are having to make—as others have said, they are close to £100 billion, thanks to the Government’s economic inheritance—are 8.3% of total public spending. Imagine what we could do if we spent that money on the NHS, our schools, or fixing the housing crisis. This goes much deeper than debt. The truth is that we inherited a sick economy, affecting living standards, wages and public services, and there was no plan for growth.”
“They tell me that it is vital that NHS waiting lists fall, so that their employees can access the treatment that they need; that we have modern infrastructure in Britain, including transport and energy; that their staff can afford housing options; and that we agree an EU youth mobility scheme to support our hospitality industry.”
“That is another egregious waste of taxpayer money that we inherited from them. That is the direct result of not planning for investment or for the long term; it is the price of short-termism and a failure to plan for the future. Let us look at housing—one part of our plan. We have ambitious planning reforms to deliver the greatest impact on growth at no fiscal cost. We have the biggest investment in social and genuinely affordable homes in a generation. We have leasehold reform, protection for renters and a new decent homes standard, which are all opposed by the Conservative party. This Government are making tough choices to raise revenue. The Conservatives talk about businesses; I meet businesses all the time, and I understand the pressures that they are under.”
“The other parties, too, have nothing to offer. Reform wants Liz Truss’s reckless economics all over again—the same failed experiment of unfunded tax cuts that crashed our economy and left our constituents paying the price. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats promise all the benefits of tough decisions with no way to pay for them. It is pure fantasy economics. I am glad that the Government have committed to not repeating those mistakes. It will fall on the Labour party to fix this mess, rebuild our economy and deliver the secure growth that Britain needs. Nowhere is the cost of failure clearer than in the broken housing system. London boroughs now spend £4 million every single day on temporary accommodation —a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. The Conservatives also locked us into paying billions for over-inflated asylum hotel contracts.”
“Indeed, a local resident, George, has been vociferous about the lack of a credible economic plan from the Conservative party, and will not stop sharing his views on the airwaves. Yes, even the former Chancellor of the Exchequer thinks that the Conservatives have no answers to the fiscal challenges that the country faces. There is plenty that George Osborne and I disagree on, but he is absolutely right on that. At every turn, the Conservative party is backing the blockers and preventing a plan for economic growth, whether it is the Leader of the Opposition blocking new energy infrastructure in her own backyard or the shadow Business Secretary, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), signing letters to delay vital transport infrastructure. It is no wonder that our economy has been held back for so long.”
“I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. Of course, the Conservatives tanked the economy, and when there is such a dramatic decline in growth, increasing it from a very low level to a slightly higher one is relatively straightforward. The economic growth figures for the first quarter of this year, as we know, are the highest in the G7. The Government are trying to fix the mess, including through measures worth over £20 billion a year—measures aimed at repairing our public finances by addressing the black hole and investing in public services that were wrecked by austerity, poor management and wishful thinking. The Conservatives have a nerve to pretend that they would do things differently now. My constituents tell me the same.”
“If the Conservative party were serious about economic growth and tax, it would do some reflecting on its record, apologise to the British people and get behind the Labour plan to get Britain’s economy booming again.”
“I am glad that business confidence is at a nine-year high—that is from an independent assessment. The decisions that the hon. Gentleman refers to are already making a difference. Does he oppose the 4 million extra NHS appointments that this Government have managed to secure so far; the three trade deals with the US, India and the EU—deals that the Conservative party failed to get over the line—the four interest rate cuts; the efforts to close the tax gap; the fact that wages have grown more in our first 10 months in office than under the last 10 years of the Conservative Government; the rise in the national minimum wage to support low-paid workers; and the expansion of free school meals to half a million children, which also lifts 100,000 out of poverty? The motion before us offers no ideas and no credible plan.”
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his defence of teachers. I am sure that he welcomes the pay rise for teachers of 5% last year and 4.4% this year, funded by the Budget.”
“The west London tech corridor, for example, is ready for exponential growth, but it needs capital, talent and leadership, and world-leading institutions like Imperial College London rely on international talent to stay globally competitive. The proposed UK-EU youth experience scheme is therefore an important step forward. I know that businesses welcome it, including those in hospitality, where cost pressures have been acute. We should build on it, because if we want Britain to lead in the industries of the future, we must be a country that welcomes talent.”
“Many businesses in Kensington and Bayswater tell me that they are struggling to hire the people they need. I believe that we need urgent reform of how we attract talent. That means the global talent visa, of which only 4,000 were issued last year. I think we should aim for at least 10,000 a year, to send a clear message that Britain and London are open for business, and for talent. We should also introduce a credible investor visa—not a return to the failed pay-to-play schemes of the past and the golden visa fiasco, which was tainted with corruption, but a genuine pathway for entrepreneurs in high-growth sectors like biotech and clean energy.”
“I will cover three areas at the outset: first, ensuring that London remains a magnet for global talent, attracting the skills that we need to lead the industries of the future; secondly, delivering the homes that the capital needs, which means social and genuinely affordable homes that support strong, thriving communities and provide the foundation for growth; and thirdly, a transport system fit for a world-leading city. Let me start with talent. The recent immigration White Paper offered some welcome signs, by recognising that the global race for talent is accelerating and Britain must compete in that race. We want a controlled immigration system with democratic consent, and the Government are right to prioritise that, but we must not let that system become a barrier to attracting the people who will drive our future growth.”
“It aims to ensure that London contributes an extra £27.5 billion in tax revenue by 2035. That is money for our NHS, our schools and our public services everywhere in this country. To unlock London’s full potential, we need to be clear about what more needs to be done. I know that colleagues will talk in this debate about ensuring that our streets are safe, with properly funded policing, and that our councils have the resources they need to deliver basic services to some of the most deprived communities in the country.”
“The Green Book review and the commitment to place-based growth are important steps forward because every community deserves a fair chance to thrive, but we should be clear that tackling regional inequality must never mean holding back our greatest national economic asset. That has never been a strategy for success. London is one of the most successful cities in the world, a gateway for global talent, investment and trade, and an economic engine that drives prosperity far beyond the M25. We finally have a Labour Government working hand in hand with a Labour mayor to deliver, for example, the London growth plan that I know the Minister recently helped to launch, which is a blueprint to boost productivity and build the infrastructure that matches that ambition.”
“For too long, our country has missed opportunities to unlock growth and potential for all our people and places. Since the global crash in 2008, productivity has flatlined. Stagnation has taken hold, hurting not just London’s prospects but the prosperity of every community across the UK. Regional divides were allowed to deepen, potential was wasted, and growth was squandered. The promise of levelling up proved nothing more than a gimmick: more hanging baskets than a genuine effort to tackle regional inequality. It is welcome that we have a Government determined to change that with their relentless focus on tackling regional inequality by delivering good jobs, putting more money into people’s pockets and giving local communities real power over the decisions that affect them.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered London’s contribution to the national economy. It is an honour and a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Western, for this important debate on London’s contribution to the Government’s national growth mission. I am proud to be a London MP, and of the contribution that our great city makes to our country, and to the world. It is disappointing that, in some quarters, London-bashing has come back into fashion. People want to talk down our city for their own political agendas or—dare I say it—play vigilante for likes on social media. I hope that today we can instead focus on the mutual benefits that a strong London economy brings to the UK. We all know that the problems inherited by this Government are far bigger than London alone.”
“I agree with the hon. Member. Before this debate, I was looking at the Transport for London budget. It contributes £11 billion to the UK-wide economy through the construction of what we hope will be new trains on the Jubilee line, the DLR and hopefully the Bakerloo line, and supports 100,000 high-quality jobs across the country. Transport and manufacturing are sectors that have huge spin-off potential across the country. Another such sector is housing. It is a huge relief that we now have a Government who recognise the true scale of the challenge and are prepared to put serious investment and policy change behind it. In my constituency, there are 3,000 families on the social housing waiting list and more than 2,000 people living in temporary accommodation. The housing crisis is not a victimless problem.”
“Obviously, the long-term solution is to build the houses that we need, but in the short term we should not hit everyday services that people need on the back of that budget.”
“I thank my neighbour for his intervention. We all welcome a fair funding settlement that recognises the huge levels of regional inequality in this country, but it is correct and fair for it to be based on accurate and up-to-date data and for that data to include the very high proportion of Londoners’ incomes spent on housing, which pushes up the poverty numbers. We have some of the most deprived communities in the country, often hidden within quite wealthy boroughs, so we also need to capture the geographical areas of deprivation. I also suggest that the Government include the daytime population, because lots of commuters come in and use council services but are not necessarily captured in the census. Temporary accommodation, as we know, costs London councils £4 million a day.”
“Of that 1.5 million, London’s target is to deliver 88,000 homes a year in this Parliament, so the spending review announcement is critical. The £39 billion in the affordable homes programme, including £11.7 billion for London, the 10-year rent deal and the new low-interest loans will make a real difference. I was also pleased to see something that I have been calling for, which is equal access to the building safety fund for housing associations. Many housing associations have been putting more capital into remediation and not into building new homes. My strong belief is that the legacy of Grenfell must be that everyone, no matter where they live, can access a safe and healthy home. We should not have a false choice between building the homes that we need and building safety.”
“My hon. Friend is right. There is obviously no quick fix to this problem. It takes time to build new housing and ramp up the pipeline for it, but the current situation is not tenable. London boroughs compete against each other for increasingly expensive temporary accommodation with very low levels of quality. First and foremost, that hurts families and residents, affecting their life chances and preventing them from playing a full role in the economy. It is an urgent issue. I know the Government are working on a temporary accommodation plan—we have discussed that in the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. We hope to see more detailed proposals of how to fix this problem in the short run while we build the housing that we need. The target of 1.5 million homes in this Parliament hugely depends on building in London.”
“Sustainable investment of £2.2 billion over, I think, four years will deliver things like new trains on the Piccadilly line and the docklands light railway—the Bakerloo line, too, I hope—as well as new signalling on 40% of the tube network and a new tram fleet. As I mentioned to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), the TfL supply chain is critical across the country, supporting high-quality jobs everywhere, but we must go further. It was pleasing that in the spending review the Chancellor recognised, for example, the potential growth and housing benefits of the DLR Thamesmead extension, and committed to working with TfL to explore all options for its delivery. I ask the Minister to keep up the momentum on that project and look into alternative financing that might be able to come in and get it moving as soon as possible.”
“Those are the people we are increasingly pushing out of central London, and out of London altogether, which is a huge challenge for our city. Housing and transport go hand in hand, and both are fundamental to delivering growth. Without modern, reliable public transport, we cannot unlock the new homes that London needs, or drive the business growth that will power our city’s future. For too long, the Conservatives held back Transport for London with short-term and inadequate funding that prevented it from planning for the future. That is why I really welcome this Government’s commitment to a long-term funding deal.”
“My hon. Friend is right. It is welcome that the Building Safety Regulator will be getting 100 new staff, and that Andy Roe has come in to chair it. I am sure the Minister can give more detail. We also need to see faster progress on remediating buildings in London. The new London remediation board, co-chaired by the Greater London Authority and central Government, is really important for that too. The reason this is important for growth is because it is sucking time and capital out of the system to build the new homes that she talks about. I agree that the statistics on new starts have to be turned around. Everyone in this city, including the key workers who will not always access social housing allocations—the teachers, nurses and police officers—need different housing options, including different affordable housing products.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. A combination of financing instruments was used to fund the Elizabeth line. That approach has huge potential for big infrastructure projects in London, including the proposal for a new St Mary’s hospital. It cannot be right that we are reliant on the Treasury capital budget for projects that we know will pay back over and above in the long term. There is a strong appetite to explore how different financing mechanisms could get these projects moving. We should harness London as one of our greatest assets, not at the expense of other regions or of tackling regional inequality but for the benefit of the whole country. We should tackle regional inequality head-on, and I believe that London is part of the solution to that problem.”
“Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) made great points about whether there should be an overnight visitor levy. It is great that we will have devolved powers to tackle dockless e-bikes in that Bill. That is a big win for many of our constituents, who write regularly about that issue, but it should not just be about dockless e-bikes. Our ambition can be greater than that. I hope that in the course of the Bill, we can have an ambitious London section that addresses some of the governance questions that could help unlock growth. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered London’s contribution to the national economy.”
“Temporary accommodation may once have been more of an inner London problem, but it is now spreading across the country, as boroughs increasingly compete against one another. There are other pressures on that type of housing as well, which I will not go into. I will end where the Minister arrived, with his Department’s big new Bill. I agree with the Minister that it provides an opportunity to cover some of the points hon. Members have made about governance. We have talked about whether to have Ministers for London or not, and powers or not. Given that London had the first devolution deal with the Greater London Authority Act 1999, many other parts of the country have now overtaken London in terms of the sophistication of the governance arrangements and what powers are devolved. My hon.”
“Members talked about policing and the need for both reform and investment. I think the Met have indicated their openness to future reform. In fact, the Met commissioner published an opinion article just a few days ago about what some of those reforms might be. In real terms, funding for the Met is going up by 2.3% over this spending review, but—I hate to say it—they had £1 billion taken out of their budget over the last 14 years. It will take time to catch up, but reform alongside investment is crucial for the Met. On housing, we look forward to the Government’s long-term housing strategy and the temporary accommodation plan. That is an issue clearly hitting both inner and outer London.”
“Whether it is a combination of reserves and whatever else that will be needed to make it work, the transition period will be key in that fair funding review. On transport, similarly, there have been lots of suggestions for great projects to build the pipeline. I would emphasise the analogy my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) gave with Crossrails 1, 2 and 3. It takes time to get these projects up and running, even beyond the spending review that has just been agreed. Even projects that were not in the spending review will need a bit of pump-priming to get started, because planning permission and raising private finance alongside public money takes time. We need to build that pipeline for those projects of the future; they will not come overnight. A number of hon.”
“I thank you, Mr Western, for chairing this debate, and all the non-London Members for sitting through a discussion about London’s economic growth potential. I will not go over all the great contributions from hon. Members from across the House, but I will summarise a few areas in which there has been quite a high degree of consensus. I thank the Minister for his reassurance that this debate will, in itself, contribute to the fair funding consultation, and in particular, that there will be an emphasis on accurate and reliable data that fairly captures the diversity of London’s challenges and opportunities. Whatever decision is made, London councils would appreciate an appropriate transition period to ensure that that can be worked in.”
“I thank the Minister for all her hard work to bring together procurement information centrally for the first time and to improve the quality of that data. What progress has been made to push that out to the public in the dashboards and analytics that will help us track and improve the public procurement system and monitor the Government’s strategic goals of backing British small and medium-sized enterprises and supporting key sectors of the economy?”
“The IFS found that Sure Start delivered benefits significantly greater than its cost, yet it was still slashed by the Tories, with well over 1,000 centres closing. It was one of the biggest acts of vandalism under austerity, stunting life chances for too many for a generation. Can the Secretary of State outline how she expects this investment to work in areas with very high levels of inequality, such as my constituency, where life expectancy at birth differs by 19 years between one community and another?”
“As the Minister is no doubt aware, an increasingly common issue on our high streets is phoenixing. That is where a shop unit continues to trade while cycling through multiple limited companies every few months, none of which pays corporation tax, VAT or business rates. Can the Minister encourage officials at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to walk along Whitehall, just a few hundred metres from this Chamber, and take a look at whether the series of Harry Potter-themed gift shops across London—which have been accused by “London Centric” of doing exactly that—are playing by the rules? Will they ensure that tax enforcement supports legitimate small businesses on our high streets?”
“I absolutely support the objective of tackling regional inequality in Britain, so I urge the Minister to ensure that any decisions made use accurate, up-to-date data that fairly reflects the reality.”
“My message to them was that this Government will get them the support that they need to get on a sounder financial footing, but that must be accompanied by a commitment to addressing those failings. We have kept our side of the bargain, so can the Minister outline his expectation that housing associations will invest in their homes following the spending review? Can he also give an update on opening up access to the building safety fund? On building safety, I hope that the Government will take seriously the need to support the Building Safety Regulator in doing its job effectively, and the need to avoid a false choice between building safety and achieving the 1.5 million homes target. The local government funding formula will have a major impact on our ability to secure safe and healthy homes. The consultation has just opened.”
“However, the package in this spending review—the biggest investment in social and genuinely affordable homes for 50 years—is hugely welcome; there is the £39 billion for the affordable homes programme, which has been mentioned, the 10-year rent deal, and the new low-interest loans. There is also something that I have been advocating for: equal access to the building safety fund for housing associations, so that money can go towards improving homes, not just remediating buildings. I strongly believe that the legacy of Grenfell cannot be that it is harder for people to get a safe and healthy home. I have been clear to the housing associations in my constituency that we expect radical improvements in their services—on repairs, on damp and mould, and on communications.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), the Chair of the Select Committee, for securing the debate. It is such a relief that we now have a Government who acknowledge the scale of the housing challenge, and are prepared to put serious investment and policy change behind it. In my constituency, there are 3,000 families on the social housing waiting list, and more than 2,000 people in temporary accommodation. It is those people I think of when we look at these numbers. There are no quick fixes, and we should be honest about that.”
“I am sorry; I do not have much time left. That means including housing costs when analysing deprivation, ensuring that the daytime population is included, and ensuring that the huge pressure on temporary accommodation is factored in. We all want to reduce the need for temporary accommodation, but in the short term, we must not balance the temporary accommodation budget on the back of the everyday services on which our constituents rely; that would be another false choice. The package is a huge step forward, and I congratulate all Ministers on securing it; now is the time to deliver.”
“Saturday marked eight years since 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell tower fire—eight years without justice. But, finally, there is the prospect of some systemic change following the public inquiry. I welcome the Government’s commitment to barring all the cited companies from accessing public contracts and their full support to the police investigation to deliver real accountability. Can the Deputy Prime Minister also reassure our community that, alongside the Hillsborough law, the Government will consider some independent oversight so that victims from the Post Office to Hillsborough to Grenfell know that inquiry recommendations will actually lead to real change?”
“I rise to speak to new clause 155, which stands in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) and is supported by the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax. I welcome the Bill for its clear and ambitious strategy to tackle antisocial behaviour and crime, but if we want truly safer streets, we must also step up our efforts to tackle financial and economic crime. That is the aim of our amendment, which is supported by at least 30 Members from across the House.”
“The Imperial College healthcare NHS trust has the largest high-risk repair backlog in the country. The support from the Government estates safety fund is very welcome, but to solve this problem we ultimately need a new St Mary’s hospital. Will the Secretary of State join me in praising the work of the new three-year St Mary’s taskforce, which aims to get to full planning consent and explore different financing models so that we can finally get this hospital built?”
“Small businesses on our high streets across my constituency, from Earl’s Court Road to Queensway, Notting Hill Gate and Portobello Road, are fed up of being blighted by candy shops, low-grade souvenir shops, Harry Potter shops and even barbershops, with accusations of VAT and business rates evasion and even links to money laundering and serious organised crime. Can the Minister outline what steps the Department is taking, in conjunction with the Minister responsible for high streets, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency, to crack down on these operations and create a legitimate level playing field for our small businesses?”
“Will the Leader of the House join me in praising the Ukrainian St Mary’s trust, which in recent years dramatically scaled up its community school to serve more than 2,500 displaced children, and pioneered new trauma-sensitive methods of education? Will she consider making time to debate its proposal to set up the country’s first bilingual Ukrainian secondary school in Kensington and Bayswater, delivering on the education section of our historic 100-year partnership with Ukraine?”
“Does he agree that it sends a message to other overseas territories that tackling economic crime can be a strength in terms of business confidence and investment, and not something to be feared?”
“I strongly welcome this political agreement and congratulate the Foreign Secretary and the ministerial team on achieving it. I recently met Chief Minister Picardo, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell), the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) and other members of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, to welcome the progress that Gibraltar has made on anti-money laundering, including through publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership. Will the Foreign Secretary confirm that it is the intent in the future EU-UK agreement that there will be a section on anti-money laundering?”