Letting agencies are unregulated. They charge a search fee, which in some cases can run into several hundred pounds, but the search consists of no more than checking through a computer database to see whether they have any properties for that person.

We see constituents who are manifestly incapable of undertaking any normal work... Those whose applications for benefits are subsequently rejected go through a period of incredible stress, and some, sadly, take their lives during that time. Applicants who appeal usually win.

It is a ludicrous statistic plucked out of the air and used to justify a quite appalling attack on many of the poorest people in this country.

What kind of city are we living in, if we encourage the development or ownership of large, expensive properties for investment and land banking... while people are sleeping on the streets?

I also recognise that the mandate was given by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in the political process.

I would have set out very quickly the relationship with Europe.

When legal aid was first introduced in 1949, the late Arthur Skeffington said that the law at that time was like The Ritz, in that those who could afford to pay had access to it, while those who could not did not.