Member

I will finish by picking up some of the comments made in his opening statement by the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds), and some other speeches. Not everyone in this House is of the same mind and some have expressed concerns that reforms may restrict market supply, but I can tell hon. Members that, in my experience, evidence from across the world shows that similar regulations have not prevented growth in the private rented sector. To take Ireland, for example, it introduced protected tenancies way back in 2004, but that sector has doubled and it continues to grow and thrive with those controls in place. Looking at Germany, Australia, Sweden and across the developed world, we see that rebalancing between landlords and tenants has meant that private rented sectors have flourished. The reality is that countries with strong regulation on rental standards have seen faster growth than those that do not have it.