By Justin Madders

MP for Ellesmere Port

IF I had a pound or two for foodbanks in my constituency for every time the expression 'leasehold reform' is mentioned in Parliament, then those in need would undoubtedly have fuller bellies. A brief search reveals that the word leasehold has been mentioned over 2000 times since I was elected to Parliament 8 just over 8 years ago.

That is quite simply because the Government's promise to introduce long overdue reforms to leasehold legislation has been put back time and time again.

When my Labour colleagues and I brought up the subject yet again, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, could not even be bothered to show up for the debate.

And when the admittedly non-binding vote in favour of leasehold reform took in the Commons last week, the result was 174 in favour and none against.

That does not mean all Conservative MPs are opposed to leasehold reform - indeed on our side we have always tried to make the all-important changes that are needed to leasehold legislation a non-Party issue.

No, it's just that Government whips instructed their MPs not to back the motion, simply because it was a Labour motion.

Michael Gove knows all too well that he gave a commitment back in January 2023 to abolish the feudal leasehold system which he has acknowledged is an unfair form of property ownership.One of his predecessors, Sajid Javid made a similar pledge back in 2017, yet we are still waiting.

So we called on Michael Gove to keep his promise and the promise made by many of his predecessors to the millions of people living in leasehold properties by ending the sale of new private leasehold houses, introducing a workable system to replace private leasehold flats with commonhold and enacting the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, commonhold and the right to manage in full.

Speaking in the leasehold debate, I was delighted to be joined by neighbouring Labour MPs Mike Amesbury, Samantha Dixon and Mark Tami in putting up a united front on behalf of all leaseholders who find they cannot sell the homes that they struggled hard to buy in the first place. They are truly trapped in an outdated yesteryear system.

And I am pleased to note our contributions to the debate went down with new Ellesmere Port councillor Katie Kendrick who has fought long and hard as a leader of the National Leasehold Campaign for the abolition of residential leasehold in England and Wales.

And in fairness, I know Katie and I must pay tribute to the Worthing MP Sir Peter Bottomley, the Father of the House, who has been relentless in his campaign for changes to be introduced to leasehold legislation. He will be as disappointed by the slow progress as we are.

We all know that we have no choice but to be patient and I know that all too well,having first got involved in the leasehold reform saga shortly after I was first elected to Parliament in 2015,

We have endured setback after setback but we have no intention of giving up now.

In conclusion, I am reminded of my remarks when I took part in a Commons leasehold debate in 2016: "What we are discussing today is nothing short of a national scandal.

“We cannot allow this to continue. Parliament must act.”