Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
We want councillors and MPs to be more closely involved in housing issues because this will help to strengthen local democracy and accountability.
I've always thought that the level of homelessness in society is likely to be a truer measure of how civilised we are then almost any other factor.
Businesses create every penny of the wealth we need to pay for our nation's schools, our NHS and our pensions. They are our only path to prosperity.
Having served in the Forces a positive when it comes to applying for jobs. But we know some former service personnel can find the transition difficult.
We know that solving homelessness has to be about more than simply introducing a new raft of government initiatives, task forces and top-down solutions.
The arts and crafts architecture of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City is now hugely admired. Remember much of it was stimulated through open competition.
Look at the growing middle class in India. Small businesses are not just a source of jobs and prosperity: they are the driving force of social justice too.
I want to reignite the idea of community with a positive conservatism in which the word 'development' has a new connotation, kind of like a social revolution.
An astonishing disengagement from reality is necessary to actually believe there is something sinister about protecting people's homes from invasion through squatting.
One of my priorities is getting the trains to run on time, and as a commuter myself I understand all too well the frustration caused by endless delays and cancellations.
It is often said there is a great deal of talent in the Conservative Parliamentary Party. This is true, but too many of the brightest and best remain on the backbenches.
I don't see any reason why society can't function well when people come together in the common interest under our system. In fact that's what the Big Society is all about!
As the people at the sharp end of delivering the government's commitment to tackle climate change we know attaining zero carbon status has always involved a flexible approach.
I absolutely believe that we're the workers' party. We are the party that has always been at the forefront of the big social changes that have promoted women and working people.
Our brave servicemen and women sacrifice so much for us all - whether they're spending months away from their families and friends or putting their lives on the line for our country.
One of the cruellest things of all is to have a huge deficit in this country, meaning that everyone's children will be expected to pay back for our debt today. That is unfair as well.
I believe that investing in welfare is crucial - but I also believe that it only works if you're getting help to those who need it. If you're doing it with no results, it's disastrous.
People pay their licence fee in this country because people believe that we should have public service broadcast programming. Of course, there are lots of different ways you could do that.
By scrapping the government's centrally dictated density targets we'll ensure that the right type of new homes are built where they're needed, ending the glut of one- and two-bedroom flats.
Incredibly, a typical town hall official spends 85% of their time satisfying ministers in Whitehall and a puny 15% of the day for local residents. We believe that this relationship is upside down.
There is a dangerous chasm between what those seeking election claim they could do in office and the stark reality that once in power the real decision-making has long since been sub-contracted elsewhere.
Labour voted to increase welfare spending again and again, without considering the effect that the spending was having, either on the people it was designed to help or those working to support the system.
When I was starting a small printing shop in Wembley, I vividly remember coming out of the cinema, realising I had spent the two hours worrying about that month's payroll, rather than focusing on the film.
Struggling to start a small business is all-encompassing. It is a 24-hour job that places strain on those involved. As well as worrying about your own mortgage and kids, you worry about those of your staff.
I have probably become a lot more Zionist than I used to be. Jews have a history of being persecuted over a long, long period of time so I think it is absolutely right to have a country that is a Jewish state.
MPs are only elected thanks to the help of ordinary members - activists on the ground who traipse the streets, post leaflets and engage in millions of doorstep conversations, come rain or shine and without pay.
Political shenanigans come and go, yet often what feels like a big deal in Westminster fails to get a mention on the news. As a result, the public wisely let most of the hurly-burly of politics wash over their heads.
Fighting poverty is nothing new for the Conservative Party, but during the 1980s the emphasis placed on individualism and prosperity was sometimes seen to crowd out social issues like helping the most vulnerable in society.
All too often affordable housing can be a block on mobility and aspiration, so instead Conservatives will ensure that living in social accommodation means that you'll get a 'freedom pass' to get on and do more with your life.
Our reasons for criminalising squatting are crystal clear - we want to protect the rights of regular hard-working homeowners against the damage squatters can inflict on their homes, and the distress this causes in their lives.
We believe that a civilised society can be measured by the way in which it treats its most vulnerable members and that being impatient about poverty is therefore simply the default position for modern progressive Conservatives.
People like me - who set up a homelessness foundation, worked with all the homeless charities, authored probably six of seven homelessness papers - don't make changes without thinking through the impact of them on the homeless.
Most people don't get the chance to do whatever their dream in life was. I have ended up doing exactly what I wanted to do and it has been more enjoyable, challenging, stretching and fulfilling than I would have dared to imagine.
When eco-towns were first announced we said that we would support environmentally-friendly development where local communities supported the home-building; where infrastructure was in place and where the growth was genuinely green.
My great hope for my speck of time on this planet would be that I live and die, and that what I leave behind has made some kind of impression and has been for the better in terms of my family and friends and, in my case, public service.
It's impossible to know precisely what constitutes the right house price but I do know that house prices doubling or even tripling over a 10 year period caused a lot of people to find that getting a foot on the housing ladder is near on impossible.
I see the Conservative party becoming more and more attractive to people from all different backgrounds, particularly because so many of the immigrant communities are people who work hard and get on in life... so I think they are naturally Conservative.
To reduce repossessions caused by unemployment, Gordon Brown needs to look at cutting the rate of corporation tax for small companies to 20 per cent and the main rate to 25 per cent, while reducing the rate of employers' national insurance by 1% for the smallest companies.
When Welwyn Garden City was planned, the workers homes were placed in the east, downwind from the factories in the middle, whilst the bosses got the larger westside homes in Handside. This sort of social engineering, including the absence of a pub, would not be acceptable today.
I like being Jewish and I married a Jewish girl. It's like a way of life and it's good to be able to instil some of that sense of being in your kids. All of that makes me seem as though I am quite observant but actually the flipside of this is I don't know if there is a God or not.
IVF became the only way for us to have children after I was treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma 10 years ago with fertility-destroying chemotherapy. And while the cancer treatment was predictably punishing for me, I was struck by the anguish of the IVF process and in particularly the failed cycle.
The reality is that it would be wiser and even kinder for politicians to be responsible about what they claim the NHS will do, because the pain of having raised expectations for parents who are desperate to start a family, only to see those hopes crushed, is more cruel than having said nothing at all.
We need a system where some politicians - who quite rightly respond to the public mood - are prepared to stand up in favour of housebuilding, so I came up with a system that gives local people something they really want in return for building more homes. In our case in Hatfield, it's a new town centre.
There should be a way of saying to people 'thank you very much, it has not worked out but here is a good decent package for you to move on from this role and we will support you to move on into other jobs, so it is not a hire and fire thing'; and those are the sorts of changes that Conservatives would like to see.
For anyone who has found it easy to conceive, it is perhaps hard to imagine how IVF can become all-encompassing in someone's life. The endless check-ups, scans, tests, periods of waiting and finally the day when you learn the result. It's a physically punishing process for the women and an emotionally exhausting process for both partners.