Following the Second Reading of the Renters Reform Bill it is now progressing onto the Committee stage where each line will be ‘forensically’ scrutinised; the Second Readings’ of Bills procedures generally do not include a House vote.

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Housing Secretary Michael Gove opened the House debate by saying it is of paramount importance the Bill supports both tenants and landlords, he held his hands up to the fact there are issues within the measures for the student market and has promised to change the measures for student housing featured in the Bill, so new tenants will be able to access housing/’digs’ in time for the educational year.

However the debate centred on the current severely lacking courts’ system that must be changed before Section 21 evictions are banned, which was included in Gove’s recent written response to the Select Committee on Housing’s report.

Gove has committed to making Section 8 more landlord friendly in relation to legal repossession cases.

Angela Rayner, the shadow housing secretary, told MPs: “The government has betrayed renters with this grubby deal [to delay the abolition of Section 21] with the Tory backbenches. The Conservatives’ long-promised ban on no-fault evictions has majority and cross-party support across the house, but this flip-flop kicks it into the long grass. Having broken the justice system, they are now using their own failure to indefinitely delay keeping their promises to renters in the most underhand way. This comes at a heavy price for renters who have been let down for too long already.”

Mathew Pennycook the junior shadow housing minister who closed the debate, said: “We will work with the government on this Bill but make no mistake we will be pushing to strengthen it to the benefit of private tenants who have been waiting too long for this piece of meaningful legislation.”

Labour confirmed its intentions to include far more stringent measures in the Bill which include changing possession grounds to safeguard tenants against ‘no fault’ evictions, extending rent repayment orders and making it illegal for landlords not to accept benefits recipients with children.