Paul Waugh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Feb 2026 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  Far too many homeowners in Rochdale are subject to fleecehold, whereby they are fleeced for estate management company fees in return for little or no service or accountability. The Government are taking action to prevent future homeowners from falling into that trap, but will the Secretary of State set out how he plans to help current homeowners to avoid this rip-off charge?

• 23 Feb 2026 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  20. What steps his Department is taking to reform the leasehold sector.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Homelessness: Funding · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers and I thank the chair of the Backbench Business Committee, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for bringing this debate. Winter is coming and the temperatures are dropping. I remember a particularly bitter winter 28 years ago, in 1997, when a new Labour Government, with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, opened up Admiralty House to 60 young people to serve as a winter shelter. That was as powerful symbol of the change that came from that Government. I remember a certain Conservative MP, Crispin Blunt, was not happy with this scheme. He said that it would reduce a historic building to a flagship for undesirables. That is the difference between a Labour Government and a Conservative Government, I have to say. In subsequent years, homelessness was indeed slashed by that Labour Government, but sadly, during the last 14 years under the Conservatives, it has risen again. This year, thankfully, this Government are investing £1 billion in pursuit of ending homelessness and rough sleeping. I am pleased that this winter we have topped that up with a further £84 million cash boost. I will talk a bit about what can work. In Rochdale, we are seeing the tangible results of what happens when there is sustained investment and a relentless focus on combining early intervention schemes with investment in temporary accommodation options that actually get people back on their feet and build better, more sustainable pathways out of homelessness. Rochdale council has seen a 79% reduction in B&B placements compared with November 2024. That is the difference that a Labour council can make when it is working with the Labour Government. I pay particular tribute to Hannah Courtney-Adamson and her team at Rochdale council for all their work in this area, but of course, there are also lots of people on the ground who make such a difference to charities such as the Army of Kindness in Rochdale, Petrus, Sanctuary Trust and Angie’s Angels, who do fabulous work with people who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own. The provision of affordable housing is not keeping pace with demand. In Rochdale, over 7,000 households are on the housing register and we have almost 1,500 live homelessness cases. That is precisely why we need to build more homes for rent. The £39 billion we are investing in affordable and social homes is ultimately the only way out of this crisis. In the meantime, the private renting sector is often the only option, but rising rent prices and cruel section 21 evictions are cited by Rochdale council as the main cause of homelessness, and make the private rented sector impossible for many. That is why I am so proud that this Government has abolished section 21 evictions. Finally, I will say something about the need to tackle homelessness among veterans. It should be a source of national shame that those who served our nation cannot find a home, or they find a safety net filled with holes when they end up on the streets. We are proud of our support networks for veterans in Rochdale, and I am pleased that the council is renovating Denehurst House, a Victorian manor house, and turning it into five new apartments for veterans. I pay tribute to Get Together After Serving for every bit of work they do in this area. Finally, the people of Rochdale really care about fellow Rochdalians who fall on hard times and have no roof over their head. As a Government, we will be judged by how quickly we tackle this crisis—not just in winter, but all year round.

• 27 Oct 2025 · Prisoner Release Checks · Hansard source

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  Hadush Kebatu is clearly a depraved individual and a dangerous pervert who should be booted out of the country without delay. But my constituents are sick and tired of having to foot the bill for the cost of housing foreign national offenders in British jails. Will the Home Secretary therefore reassure them that the Sentencing Bill will make it much easier to deport those individuals and ensure that they are in foreign jails where they belong, rather than clogging up our prisons?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Co-operative Sector: Government Support · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend kindly mentioned Rochdale and its proud history in 1844 of the Rochdale pioneers founding this global movement for social justice. It is still a movement that is alive and kicking today. It is not a relic, as is evidenced by the Metro Moneywise credit union, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last week in a town hall ceremony in Rochdale at which I was pleased to be present. Does my hon. Friend agree that the most important point is that the Labour party has agreed to double the size of the co-operative economy, and that the whole of Government needs to get stuck in to achieve that—not just the Treasury, and not just the brilliant new unit in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the co-operative development unit, but every part of Government?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Social and Affordable Housing · Hansard source

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  1. What steps he is taking to build more social and affordable homes.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Social and Affordable Housing · Hansard source

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  I was lucky enough to grow up in a council house in Rochdale in a stable and secure home with an affordable rent, but sadly that is an opportunity and a childhood denied to far too many children in my constituency today. Why? Because under the last 10 years of the Conservative Government, the number of families on the housing list trebled. Does the Secretary of State agree that reducing the number of children in temporary accommodation should be not just the mission of this Government, but the moral mission of this Government?