As soon as I read the Bill, I knew straight away, going by the data, that students would be badly affected by this. The Bill will have profound and deeply damaging consequences for students and we must call this for what it is: another failure of this Government's broken housing policy. Students are at the very heart of this housing crisis. Young people trying to make their lives better are having their dreams of education dashed because they either cannot find accommodation or simply cannot afford it. Some students are left with long commutes, couch surfing or sleeping in their cars and that is absolutely shameful. Our students are not met with opportunity but with sky-high rents and a market rigged in favour of big landlords and big investors. While we know that purpose-built student accommodation will be reset every three years, we also know that because of the Government's failures to meet its student accommodation targets, most students are going to have to go into the private rental market. They will have no protections and may see year-on-year rent hikes and unsecured tenancies in digs. Where is the protection for those students? Students deserve certainty, they deserve fairness and they deserve a government that stands on their sides, not one that continues to protect the profits of landlords over the future of our young people. This Bill must be amended, and students and other people put first. Otherwise, it will simply be another chapter in this Government's housing failure.

Sentiment score: -0.22